11 killed, seven injured as fuel tanker crashes, explodes in western Iran

A fuel tanker exploded in western Iran, killing 11 people and injuring seven others on Saturday, state media reported.According to IRNA, the tanker hit several other vehicles before bursting into flames near a traffic police station close to the Kurdish city of Sanandaj, around 400 km (248 miles) west of Tehran.The report attributed the accident to a faulty brake system. The injured were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment, AP cites.The tanker was traveling from Hamadan toward Marivan when a technical failure in its braking system caused the accident, according to the governor and cited by Iran International in its report.Similar accident killed 15 in 2018The latest incident comes after a similar road accident near Sanandaj in 2018, when a fuel tanker collided with an intercity passenger bus, killing 15 people and injuring four others.Road and traffic accidents kill more than 17,000 people in Iran every year. Experts have attributed the country's high road fatality rate to unsafe vehicles, violations of traffic rules and inadequate emergency services.Catch the latest World News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.