Before and after: satellite images show hundreds of fuel tankers destroyed by fire in Afghanistan

Disaster causes serious fuel shortage in Afghanistan

A December 8, 2020, satellite photo from Planet Labs Inc. shows Islam Qala border crossing in Afghanistan's Herat province. AP

Satellite photos from space imagery company Planet Labs, taken on Tuesday, show the remains of hundreds of fuel tankers after Saturday's inferno on the Afghan side of the border with Iran.

The images show burnt lorries, the ground around them singed black. The fire burnt through an area of about half a square kilometre.

Twenty people were injured in the incident, which started when an explosion set off a fire that engulfed many of the vehicles lined up at the Islam Qala border crossing. Seven people were killed.

Officials said there were about 2,500 lorries there at the time of the fire.

Tuesday’s images show more vehicles lined up at the frontier, and people appear to have gathered at the site.

The crossing, about 120 kilometres west of the city of Herat, the provincial capital, is a major transit route between Afghanistan and Iran.

The US allows Afghanistan to import fuel and oil from Iran as part of a special concession that exempts Kabul from US sanctions against Tehran.