Brake failure caused crash that sparked Kabul riots

A ROAD crash that sparked a deadly riot in the Afghan capital occurred because a military truck lost its brakes as it was coming down a hill and ploughed into a line of cars, the US military said yesterday.

“Following a long move down a hill, the vehicle’s brakes apparently overheated and failed,” said military spokesman Colonel Tom Collins. “The driver, very experienced in the operation of this type of vehicle, a heavy cargo truck, applied the primary and emergency brakes and took evasive action to avoid hitting pedestrians.”

This led to the truck hitting several unoccupied parked cars in an effort to slow down, but it wasn’t enough and the truck hit occupied vehicles at a junction, he said.