TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- A gasoline tanker truck slammed into a row of packed buses, setting off fiery explosions that killed at least 71 people and injured 108 in southeastern Iran, officials said Friday.
Many of the victims were burned alive because firefighting equipment had to arrive from Zahedan, about 70 miles away, said Heidar Ali Nouraei, the city's governor.
The buses, along with a truck containing tar, were parked at a police station on the main highway between Zahedan and Bam, nearly 700 miles southeast of Tehran, when the accident occurred late Thursday night.
The driver of the tanker, which was carrying 4,680 gallons of fuel, apparently lost control _ perhaps due to a steering failure _ and his vehicle slammed into the buses and the other truck, the Islamic Republic News Agency said.
State-run television showed charred bodies in the gutted buses, the tanker lying on its side, and grief-stricken men walking among the destroyed vehicles. Survivors were also seen crying and slapping themselves in the face in grief.
Trucks and buses often wait outside police stations in the area to be inspected for drugs and other contraband. Sistan-Baluchistan, the province in which the accident occurred, is on a major drug smuggling route from Afghanistan and Pakistan to the west.
Iran has one of the world's worst rates for road accidents, with more than 400,000 crashes and 21,000 deaths on its roads in 2002. The high tolls are blamed on unsafe vehicles, widespread disregard of traffic laws and inadequate emergency services.
