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Collision on Damascus-Deir Route
At least 35 people were killed and 30 others were injured on Saturday in a collision between two passenger buses on the road linking Damascus to Deir ez-Zor, in eastern Syria, according to Syrian state media and the Health Ministry.
“Thirty-five people died and 30 others were injured Saturday in the collision of two buses in Syria”
The crash occurred between Suhne and Palmyre, with state television El-Ikhbariyye saying the accident happened on the route connecting the two regions.
SANA reported that the collision involved a bus carrying members of the Internal Security Forces and a civilian passenger bus, while the Interior Ministry said ambulances were dispatched to the scene.
Defense Ministry helicopters were chartered to transport victims to hospital, and the Defense Ministry dispatched helicopters to participate in evacuating the injured and the victims of this accident.
The death toll was expected to rise, with authorities fearing the balance could worsen in the coming hours.
Officials call it a tragedy
Raed al-Saleh, the minister in charge of emergency and disaster management, described the crash as a "tragédie" and stressed "l'urgence de s'attaquer aux défis accumulés par les infrastructures routières du pays".
The Interior Ministry said a number of passengers on the first bus belonged to the internal security forces, while the second was occupied by civilians, and SANA cited a Health Ministry official for the casualty figures.
State television said the Defense Ministry chartered helicopters to transport the victims to the hospital, and SANA reported that military helicopters helped evacuate the injured and recover the bodies.
Moaz Najjar, director of the General Office of Road Transport in Damascus, said authorities had "donné pour consigne de prioriser l'entretien des routes de l'est" and noted that "la plupart des routes sont en mauvais état et n'ont pas fait l'objet d'entretien depuis 15 ans".
The crash was also described as one of the worst road accidents in recent years in Syria, with state media linking the incident to the condition of the country’s damaged road infrastructure.
Road safety and reconstruction stakes
The accident renewed attention on Syria’s road safety challenges, with France 24 citing that the country’s infrastructure, including its roads, has been "très gravement endommagées" by the civil war between 2011 and 2024.
“Two buses have collided in Syria, killing at least 35 people and injuring 30 others”
France 24 also reported that the cost of reconstruction was evaluated at more than 216 milliards de dollars par la Banque mondiale, while state television quoted Moaz Najjar on prioritizing maintenance of eastern roads.
Al Jazeera said the highway is known to have poor safety standards and described it as a crucial route stretching more than 400km (249 miles) connecting eastern Syria to the capital.
In the same report, Al Jazeera cited a statement by Raed al-Saleh that more than 2,000 road traffic accidents had occurred between January and the end of September, adding that such accidents were "among the leading causes of death in Syria".
As the immediate response continued, state media said Syrian Civil Defense teams brought the fire sparked by the collision under control and continued providing first aid and transport to Tadmor Hospital.
