ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Two people were injured on Friday after a tanker truck carrying oil caught fire after it overturned in Sulaimani province’s southern Darbandikhan district.
“A fuel tanker transporting oil from Sulaimani to Darbandikhan overturned after passing through the district’s tunnel and spilled its load on the street, catching fire,” Sulaiman Mohammed, Darbandikhan’s district mayor told Rudaw.
The truck’s driver and a passenger were injured in the incident and were transported to the district’s hospital, according to Mohammed.
The incident inflicted a lot of material damage to the houses in the area, as well as the environment of the district, according to the Darbandikhan district mayor.
Firefighting teams were dispatched to the area of the incident and controlled the fire.
Darbandikhan is a town 65 kilometers south of the city of Sulaimani and is one of the main roads that connect the Kurdistan Region with the rest of Iraq. The district often witnesses such incidents, as many oil tankers overturn at the entrance of the town, moments after leaving the tunnel.
Car accidents are a common occurrence in the Kurdistan Region in comparison to many countries.
Nearly 20 people were injured in late April after a truck caused a chain collision with several other cars near Sulaimani’s Dukan district after losing control.
In November, Bahman Abdullah, spokesperson for Sulaimani traffic police directorate, told Rudaw that they had reported over 600 car accidents in the province from January to August of 2023, resulting in 92 people killed and 2,189 others wounded.
According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report from 2018, road traffic injuries were the leading killer of people aged five to 29 globally, with an estimated rate of traffic fatalities per 100,00 population in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region of 20.7% in 2016.
