At least 16 people, including eight women and children, died after a bus collided with a truck in southern Yemen, local authorities reported.
The crash happened in the Lahmar area of Al-Mahfad district, a key route connecting Abyan and Shabwa provinces, officials said on Tuesday, reports Al Jazeera.
The collision triggered a severe fire that engulfed the bus, leaving no survivors among those on board, according to Turkiye’s Anadolu news agency.
Security officials, cited by the Reuters news agency, described the cause of the accident as “improper overtaking” on a sharp bend, adding that the bus’s use of gas as fuel “caused an immediate fire that resulted in everyone inside being burned.”
This incident ranks as the second-deadliest traffic accident in Yemen in recent years and is the deadliest so far in 2026.
In 2025, a similar crash on a hazardous mountain road in Abyan province claimed 17 lives.
Observers say Yemen’s mountainous terrain and poorly maintained roads contribute to high fatalities in traffic accidents. Years of conflict between government forces and Houthi rebels have left many roads in extremely poor condition.
Yemen has faced ongoing unrest since 2014, when the Houthis took control of much of the country, including the capital, Sanaa.
