Three Afghan nationals, including a former officer in Afghanistan’s former army, have been killed in a traffic collision near Mach in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, according to local sources cited by the Afghan newspaper Etilaat Roz. Pakistani police and media have also reported the crash.
The collision occurred on Sunday, 19 Mizan, on the Quetta–Sukkur highway, according to local sources. The Afghan victims were identified as Ahmad Akhlaqi, son of Hassan; Mohammad Sharif, son of Awaz; and Ahmad, son of Abdul Hamid. All three were from Gazki village in Jaghori district of Ghazni province and worked at a coal mine in Balochistan.
The men were travelling in a passenger vehicle from Quetta towards Mach when the crash occurred, the sources said.
According to Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper, the collision took place on a narrow bridge near Zamindar Hotel in the Mach area of Kachhi district. Local police said two Mazda cargo trucks and a passenger vehicle attempted to overtake one another at the same time. The vehicles collided on the narrow bridge.
Dawn reported that at least seven people were killed and 20 others injured in the crash. These figures refer to the total casualties from the collision, not only Afghan nationals.
One of the Afghan victims, Ahmad, son of Abdul Hamid, had served in Afghanistan’s former army before the collapse of the previous government. According to a local source, he studied at Marshal Fahim National Defence University in Kabul and served in the army for two years. Before the government fell, he was stationed in Herat with the rank of second lieutenant.
Local sources said the bodies of all three men were buried on Sunday evening in the public cemetery in Hazara Town, Quetta.
The deaths highlight the risks faced by Afghan workers travelling through Balochistan, where many Afghans seek employment in coal mines. The available reports attribute the collision to vehicles attempting to overtake one another on a narrow bridge. Further details about any subsequent investigation or official findings have not been provided in the information available.
