|
|
|
|
|
Salang Tunnel FireThe Salang tunnel fire occurred on November 3, 1982 in Afghanistan's only road tunnel. The Salang tunnel is 2.7 km long, forms part of the Salang pass and is 3.3 km above sea level. Very few facts are known about the fire. All information available constitutes little more than hearsay. All sources agree that it involved a Red Army convoy travelling south through the tunnel. Some sources record that a northbound fuel tanker crashed into a military vehicle: others state that a northbound vehicle crashed into a munitions truck. There is speculation that there might have been an attack on the convoy in the tunnel, or that munitions in one of the military vehicles spontaneously combusted. The facts are not known. It appears that the Red Army sealed off access to the tunnel either after receiving reports from observers in the tunnel or after seeing smoke coming out of the portals. Many people in the tunnel then suffocated, killed either by fumes from the fire or by carbon monoxide emitted by idling engines. The size of the fire, how many vehicles were involved and how long it went on for are all unknown. The casualty figures are also unknown. One source (dated 2001) records that 178 Red Army soldiers and about 800 Afghan civilians were killed: it gives precise number for the soldiers and an estimate for civilians, which might indicate that this is based on recently-released data from Russian archives. On the other hand, it may just be hearsay. There is no way to tell. In summary: it occurred on November 3, 1982; it involved a Red Army convoy; and it probably caused the death of several hundred people. External links and sources
|
 |
|
| Copyright 2005-2009 OnPedia.com. All Rights Reserved |
|
|