AT least 26 people have been killed and another 14 injured after a bus overturned down a rocky embankment in Afghanistan.

The horror crash happened around 3am today in Arghandi, outside Kabul.

The 580-model coach veered off the road and rolled down a rocky embankment while on its way from Kandahar to the capital.

Local reports say the bus did not collide with another vehicle as the cause of the freak crash remains unknown.

Shocking pictures from the scene showed the mangled bus, with its roof and sides caved in, a stark sign of the brutal crash impact.

Taliban officials and villagers scrambled to pull bodies from the wreckage and rush the wounded to hospitals. 

Several survivors are said to be in critical condition, raising fears the death toll could climb higher.

Deadly road disasters are nothing new for Afghanistan.

Last week in Herat province, a separate crash killed 81 people when a vehicle carrying migrants from Iran went up in flames.

Traffic carnage has soared in Afghanistan, with observers pointing to reckless driving, battered roads, and what critics describe as the Taliban’s failure to regulate transport companies.

“The graph of traffic accidents in the country has risen unprecedentedly compared to any other time,” reported local outlet ABN Pashto on X.