Sulaimaniyah: A bus carrying
vacationing families through northern Iraq collided head-on
with a car and burst into flames today, killing all 24 people
trapped on the bus and three people in the car, police said.
Kirkuk Traffic Police Director Brig Gen Sallar Fiqih said
the bus was carrying vacationing families with children from
Baghdad to the northern city of Irbil.
It caught on fire, trapping passengers inside, after it
collided with the car on a narrow two-lane road about 30
kilometers northwest of the city of Kirkuk.
None of the 23 passengers or the driver aboard the bus
survived, Fiqih said.
"When I opened the door of the bus, I saw a horrific
scene of totally burned bodies, including four children," said
traffic policeman Asso Ahmed, one of the first officials on
the scene.
Three in the oncoming car, including its driver, also
were killed, Fiqih said. Three other passengers in the car
were wounded.
Fiqih said the bus passed through at least one security
checkpoint near Kirkuk, where the driver told guards he was
headed to Irbil and showed identification that he was from
Baghdad. The bus was filled with blankets and tea thermoses,
and Fiqih said it appeared its passengers were on vacation.
Kirkuk is located about 290 kilometers north of Baghdad.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, August 27, 2011, 22:03