At least 10 people were killed in a fuel tanker blast in western Iran, Iranian state media (IRIB) reported.

The explosion on Saturday was triggered by a road crash on the Hamedan-Sanandaj highway. According to the governor of Sanandaj, the capital of Iran's Kurdistan province, the accident was caused by a technical fault in the braking system of the vehicle carrying the tanker, as reported by Reuters.

The governor also said that at least six other people were injured in the incident, adding that casualty figures were based on initial reports.

Local officials said the resulting fire was immediately brought under control. They did not provide further details on the identities of those killed.

The latest deadly accident adds to a long history of deadly tanker and bus collisions in Iran, where poor road conditions, ageing vehicle fleets, and heavy freight traffic have made such accidents a recurring hazard.

At least 13 people were killed in 2018 after a fuel tanker slammed into a bus that had stopped to pick up passengers near Sanandaj.

UNICEF said Iran's rate of traffic crashes is 20 times the world's average, as the country suffers from poor roads and lax traffic enforcement.

According to a May 2017 report by the Tehran-based newspaper Financial Tribune, more than 20,000 people are killed and 800,000 are injured annually in road accidents in Iran.

Source: www.aljazeera.com