Cassiar
07-23-2004, 11:52 AM
July 24, 2004
A van carrying Iraqi civilians collided with a US tank near Baghdad, killing nine people and injuring 10 others, the US military said yesterday.
The accident occurred about 10pm on Thursday night (0400 AEST Friday), said Specialist Justin McCue, a press official of the US-led military coalition.
"The van was attempting to pass another vehicle when it collided with the tank," McCue said. "All the injured were taken to a medical facility."
There were no US or coalition casualties, McCue said. He had no other details.
There were slightly different accounts of the crash.
Iraqi police Captain Adnan Salih said nine people were killed and 18 injured in the tank collision with a bus in Tarmiyah, 50km north of Baghdad.
Salih said the fatalities included four men, four women and one child - all of whom had been attending a wedding party in Tarmiyah.
Footage taken by Associated Press Television News showed the twisted wreckage of a minibus and several bodies of accident victims covered by blankets. A small child's orange dress was found amid the wreckage and pools of blood covered the road.
US forces and Iraqi police surrounded the crash site.
An unidentified eyewitness, who said he was a passenger on the bus, told APTN the vehicle was carrying 12 people from the same family when the tank crashed into it.
"They were in a wedding party on their way from Tarmiyah to Baghdad ... (when) an American armoured vehicle hit them and left," the man said.
A van carrying Iraqi civilians collided with a US tank near Baghdad, killing nine people and injuring 10 others, the US military said yesterday.
The accident occurred about 10pm on Thursday night (0400 AEST Friday), said Specialist Justin McCue, a press official of the US-led military coalition.
"The van was attempting to pass another vehicle when it collided with the tank," McCue said. "All the injured were taken to a medical facility."
There were no US or coalition casualties, McCue said. He had no other details.
There were slightly different accounts of the crash.
Iraqi police Captain Adnan Salih said nine people were killed and 18 injured in the tank collision with a bus in Tarmiyah, 50km north of Baghdad.
Salih said the fatalities included four men, four women and one child - all of whom had been attending a wedding party in Tarmiyah.
Footage taken by Associated Press Television News showed the twisted wreckage of a minibus and several bodies of accident victims covered by blankets. A small child's orange dress was found amid the wreckage and pools of blood covered the road.
US forces and Iraqi police surrounded the crash site.
An unidentified eyewitness, who said he was a passenger on the bus, told APTN the vehicle was carrying 12 people from the same family when the tank crashed into it.
"They were in a wedding party on their way from Tarmiyah to Baghdad ... (when) an American armoured vehicle hit them and left," the man said.