Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Bus crash in Iran kills 26 schoolgirls

 

Yeganeh Torbati
Saturday 20 October 2012 06:17 EDT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A passenger bus in southwestern Iran overturned yesterday evening, killing 26 female high school students on board, Iranian media reported today.

Eighteen others were injured when the bus, carrying students from the town of Borujen, flipped on the Izeh-Lordegan road, about 435 miles southwest of the capital Tehran.

"Travelling at excess speeds on slippery roads was the cause of this accident," Colonel Samad Esfandiari, a highway patrol official, told the Iranian Students' News Agency.

The injured were taken to various hospitals in southwest Iran for treatment.

Road traffic accidents kill nearly 28,000 people and injure or disable 300,000 people a year in Iran, a country of 75 million people, according to statistics from Unicef, the United Nations Children's Fund.

Road accidents occur at a rate 20 times higher than the world average in Iran, Unicef said.

REUTERS

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in