At least 32 Afghan passengers were killed when several gas tanks in a small truck exploded in a mountain pass in northern Afghanistan on Tuesday, a provincial official said.

The passengers were travelling in Salang, a treacherous alpine pass connecting northern Afghanistan to the capital Kabul, when the gas tanks started exploding, General Mohammad Rajab, head of the Kabul-Salang highway, told Reuters.

"Most of the victims are women and children burnt to death from a very unfortunate passenger bus close to the truck carrying gas tanks," he said.

He said at least six other people were wounded and several cars were torched. There was no indication the explosions were caused deliberately.

Last month, nearly 170 people lost their lives and hundreds were injured when avalanches and snow storms hit Afghan travellers in the same mountain pass.

The highway through the Salang was built by Russian engineers in the 1960s. Its 2.6 kilometre (1.6 mile) tunnel at nearly 3,400 metres (11,000 feet) altitude provides the main overland route through the Hindu Kush mountain range connecting the Indian subcontinent to Central Asia.


Reuters