Over 80 killed in road accident in Iran

More than 80 people were killed and 102 others injured when a petroleum tanker truck crashed into several buses and a tar tanker on Thursday evening in southeastern Iran, local press reported Friday.

Those injured were taken to hospitals in Zahedan, head of Zahedan Medical University Mohammad Taqi Hosseini Tabatabaei was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying.

The collision took place at 22:30 p.m. local time (18:00 GMT) on Thursday, which set ablaze six buses full of passengers and another tanker that parked for inspection near a police station at the edgeof Zahedan, capital city of the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, state television reported.

Governor General of Zahedan Heidar Ali-Nouraei told IRNA that the explosion destroyed the six buses, a building and a light post near the police station.

Many of the passengers were burnt to death due to lack of extinguishment equipments, he said.

"It took time before firefighters reached the scene from Zahedan, 110 kilometers to the east," he added.

State TV reported that the tanker was carrying 18,000 liters of petrol and ran out of control.

Local medical units said 100 people were feared dead, while theRed Crescent put the death toll at between 50 and 200.

Deputy provincial police head Mohammad Arab said police have launched an investigation to establish the cause of the accident.

Iran has one of the highest rates of road accident in the world.Official statistics showed that in every 24 minutes there is one person killed in road accident.

Transport experts blame most of theaccidents on hazardous roads and reckless driving.