The death toll from a fuel tanker explosion in a tunnel north of the Afghan capital Kabul rose to 31 on Monday, a Taliban government spokesman said as more bodies were removed from the site and rescuers continued to search for survivors. .
The cause of Saturday night’s explosion at the Salang tunnel, some 80 miles from Kabul, remains unclear. The tunnel, originally built in the 1960s to aid the Soviet invasion, is a key link between northern and southern Afghanistan.
Initially, at least 19 people were reported dead. A Health Ministry spokesman, Sharafat Zaman Amarkhail, said the death toll had risen to 31 and 37 people were injured.
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An explosion in the Salang Tunnel on December 17, 2022 killed at least 31 people and injured 37 others.
(Say Khodaiberdi Sadat/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai expressed his condolences over the blast, saying he received the news of the deaths and injuries in the blast in Parwan province with “great sadness.”
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“I offer my deepest condolences to the families of the victims of this tragic incident and pray for the speedy recovery of those injured,” he tweeted.
