Six victims of Wednesday night’s IED explosion against a fuel tanker in Parwan province are still in critical condition in Istiqlal Hospital in Kabul, officials confirmed Thursday.

Ten of the 27 wounded where transferred to the Istiqlal Hospital while another 11 are still being treated in Parwan provincial hospital.

Eight people were also killed in the incident which happened after a magnetic IED against a fuel tanker was detonated in Charikar city on Wednesday night.

Most of the wounded were on a bus which was near the fuel tanker when the explosive device was detonated.

The bus had been traveling from Kabul to the northern provinces and many of the victims were Faryab residents who were on their way home after being deported from Iran.

“The fuel tanker was 100 meters away from our bus when it exploded and the whole street was on fire (as fuel poured out of the tanker). Our bus tried to reverse but it also caught fire,” said the assistant bus driver Den Mohammad. 

The head of Parwan hospital Mohammad Qasim Sangin said: “Eleven people are being treated at Parwan hospital. They are in a stable condition.”

The head of Istiqlal hospital, Mohammad Sabir Naseb, said the patients with over 60 percent burns were sent to Kabul.

TOLOnews journalist Karim Amini visited some of the wounded in hospital who told him they had been returning to Faryab when the incident happened.

Malik is one victim, who is from Faryab provincial capital Maimana. He said he had been in Iran for three years, where he had worked to support his family. He said after his father died he became the breadwinner but had been returning home when the explosion happened.  

According to him, the driver failed to open the main door of the bus when it caught fire.  

“The driver did not open the door, if he had opened the door, we could have fled from the bus. He only opened the front door and escaped himself. The smoke came in and we were not able to escape,” said Malik. 

Another Faryab resident, Zaman, lost three members of his family in the fire and two others were wounded. 

“My cousin’s three sons were in the back seats and they all died,” Zaman said. 

Out of the eight who died, the bodies of four have not been identified as they were burnt so badly. Their bodies have been sent to the forensic medical facility to help with identification.

This is the seventh fuel tanker to have been blown up in the past six weeks, officials confirmed.