By Kerisma Fakhri
On the night of Saturday, December 17, a huge fire broke out in the Salang tunnel. It took two days to put out. Eyewitnesses and families of the victims say that more than 200 people were killed and injured in this incident, but Zan Times cannot independently verify that figure. The real death toll is still not known. The injured have been transferred to hospitals in Balkh, Baghlan, Kunduz, Parwan, and Kabul provinces, sources tell Zan Times.
At least three eyewitnesses tell Zan Times that about 50 cars, including 15 passenger buses, were completely burned. The inferno started when a fuel truck caught fire in the middle of the 2.67-km-long tunnel, which is nearly three kilometers long, explain the eyewitnesses.
“A vehicle containing liquid gas exploded after the oil car, followed by a coal car that caught fire; that is, there were three explosions and the oil, liquid gas and coal cars caught fire,” says an eyewitness, who was near the tunnel when the incident occurred. He asked Zan Times not to identify him.
Another witness who was present at the scene from the first hour of the fire says that most of the victims had no chance of being saved. They were completely burned in their cars, and no trace of them was left, he tells Zan Times. “I asked the doctors present at the place, and they said that more than 100 people died and most of them were completely reduced to ashes,” he explains.
Mohammad Arif, a resident of Kunduz province, lost his brother’s family in this fire. He says that his brother was travelling from Kunduz to Kabul with his wife and three children from Kunduz. They all died in this incident.
Mohammad Arif waited two nights outside the tunnel to find the remains of his brother’s family. Finally, on Tuesday, he identified the wreckage of his brother’s car. “We found their car. The car was completely burnt and the bodies could not be identified,” he tells Zan Times.
A rescuer who works in the tunnel cleaning department confirmed the horror caused by the fire: “All the cars were completely melted. Smoke is still present in the tunnel and it is difficult to breathe. Fifteen passenger buses and 20 trucks were completely burnt and we removed the remains from the tunnel.” He said that the tunnel is still closed and work is currently underway on its ventilation and electricity system.
Aid workers consider the lack of coordination between the teams and the inattention of the Taliban officials helped contribute to the high number of casualties. “The aid teams had the least facilities. There was no oxygen for the team that was going inside, there was no food to eat, officials from both sides of the tunnel came and went and took souvenir photos, but no one paid attention to the condition of the people,” a worker tells Zan Times.
According to sources who were on the scene of the Salang fire, hundreds of people on both sides of the tunnel are waiting for the opening of this route, but due to the lack of oxygen, there is still no way to travel through this tunnel. So the travellers are waiting in cold weather and without any facilities.
The strategic Salang tunnel is the most important transportation route between nine northern provinces of Afghanistan and the capital of Kabul.
The Taliban’s inability to properly manage such large-scale disasters is not new. In October, fire swept through two large markets in the Kote Sangi area of Kabul. Because the Taliban could not stop the spread of the fire, more than 200 businesses were completely destroyed.
In addition to being unable to manage such tragedies, the Taliban do not provide information to the media, including the real number of victims. In an interview with Zan Times, the spokesman of the Taliban governor in Parwan province put the number of victims of the Salang fire at 31 dead and 37 wounded, even though multiple eyewitnesses and evidence say that the real death toll was at least six times higher.
