21 people killed in Tajikistan after two buses collide

Two passenger buses collided early today in southern Tajikistan, sparking an explosion of a liquefied gas canister and killing 21 people, police said.

Six people were injured in the head-on collision in the Gozimalik region, 35 miles south of the capital Dushanbe, said traffic police spokesman Khabibullo Munavarov.

Aziya-Plyus news agency said six children were among the dead.

Munavarov said 20 bodies had been identified, but he could not give the number of children among them.

The accident was possibly caused by a burst tyre on one of the buses that made it enter the wrong lane, Munavarov said. The accident is under investigation.