Syria: 38 Killed, Dozens Injured in Bus Collision on Damascus–Deir Ezzor Highway
Rizik Alabi / The Media Line
[DAMASCUS] Thirty-eight people were killed and dozens injured on Saturday after a passenger bus collided with a bus belonging to Syria’s Interior Ministry on the Damascus–Deir Ezzor highway, a Health Ministry official told The Media Line.
Dr. Najib al-Naasan, director of the Referral, Ambulance and Emergency Department at Syria’s Health Ministry, said the death toll had risen to 38, while dozens of others were injured, including several in critical condition, as emergency teams continued evacuating victims and transporting the wounded to hospitals.
The collision occurred on a remote desert stretch of the highway linking Damascus with the eastern province of Deir Ezzor. The impact caused extensive damage to both buses, leaving rescue crews working for hours to recover victims, free passengers trapped inside the wreckage, and clear the road.
Emergency medical teams, civil defense personnel, and other government agencies were dispatched to the scene shortly after the crash. The Defense Ministry also deployed military helicopters to airlift critically injured victims, since the nearest hospital is about 65 kilometers (40 miles) from the accident site.
Authorities have not yet announced the cause of the collision. Officials have launched an investigation to determine the circumstances surrounding the crash, including whether mechanical failure, road conditions, or human error played a role. Identification of some victims was still underway as rescue and recovery operations continued.
The Damascus–Deir Ezzor highway is one of Syria’s main transportation routes, connecting the capital with the country’s eastern provinces. The road carries regular passenger bus services as well as commercial freight traffic and passes through long stretches of sparsely populated desert, where emergency response can be delayed by the distance between medical facilities and rescue centers.
Major traffic accidents on Syria’s highways continue to pose a challenge for emergency services, particularly in remote areas where access to advanced medical care is limited. Saturday’s crash prompted a large-scale response from health authorities, civil defense teams, and the military as efforts continued to evacuate the injured and investigate one of the country’s deadliest road accidents in recent years.
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