Six people, including four high school girls, a teacher, and a young boy, were killed when a school bus crashed while returning from a field trip in Iran’s Kerman province, according to Iranian media reports.
The accident occurred on Thursday evening at the Sirch junction. Mohammad Saberi, head of Kerman’s emergency services, reported that 27 people were injured in the crash, with two in critical condition.
However, Mohammad Amirkhani, deputy head of Kerman’s Red Crescent, stated that the number of injured was 35.
The bus was carrying 38 students from Farzanegan Girls’ High School, returning from a trip to Shahdad when the incident happened.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation, with Kerman’s governor ordering an immediate inquiry into the incident.
This accident highlights Iran’s ongoing road safety crisis. Official statistics show that over 20,000 people died in road accidents in 2024. Many attribute these alarming fatality rates to unsafe vehicles and poor public transportation standards.
Police Chief Ahmad Reza Radan had previously described some Iranian-made vehicles as “chariots of death,” claiming that unsafe vehicles were responsible for 50-60 per cent of fatal accidents.
He had even challenged automakers to have their families use their lowest-model vehicles “to see how much they trust their own products.”
