Jun 23, 2016

In the morning hours of June 22, a bus carrying 36 army conscripts who had just finished their training and were on break to visit family steered off the road into a canyon in southern Iran. As the news slowly rolled in, reports immediately surfaced that another bus carrying army soldiers had overturned. Reports said 19 soldiers were killed and 77 were injured in the two accidents.

While investigators still do not know the cause of the accidents in Fars province, many Iranians were shocked and expressed their solidarity on social media sites with the hashtag #sarbazantasliat (Condolences soldiers). Some questioned why the government did not call for a national day of mourning for the soldiers.

Military service is mandatory for all males in Iran, though it can be deferred temporarily for college. Many young Iranians view their military service as an interim period they must endure before they are able to begin their professional and personal lives. That these soldiers died during this period was a “catastrophe” according to some social media users. Others on social media complained that rather than issuing a “forced condolence letter,” officials should try to improve the living conditions of conscripts.

The head of police traffic control and information, Gen. Nader Rahmani, said that the injured were transferred to a hospital but that the number of fatalities could increase. In response to a reporter’s question, Rahmani said the soldiers were traveling in a private bus that was under the discretion of Garrison 5 of the ground forces of the army. Investigators are looking into whether driver fatigue or a technical malfunction was the reason behind the accident, Rahmani said.

Iran has some of the deadliest roads in the world, and traffic accidents with high fatalities involving government-run organizations spark debates about the safety of Iran’s roads. According to an Iranian parliament report, in the year ending March 2012, over 20,000 were killed on Iran’s roads and nearly 300,000 were injured. In 2012, Iranians were angered when a school bus carrying female students to the site of Iran-Iraq War battlegrounds — trips known as the Rahian-e Noor (Path of Light) — crashed and 22 people died.