At least 35 people were killed and dozens more wounded on Saturday when two buses collided on the highway linking Damascus to the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor, in one of the deadliest road accidents Syria has seen in recent years.

The crash tore through a remote desert stretch of the road between the towns of al-Sukhnah and Palmyra, a corridor that carries much of the traffic between the Syrian capital and the country's east. One of the vehicles was carrying members of the Internal Security Forces; the other was a civilian passenger bus, the state news agency SANA reported, citing the interior ministry.

The toll climbed steadily through the day. Early reports from state broadcaster Alikhbaria put it at 19 dead and 27 injured, before the Health Ministry revised the figure to at least 35 killed and 30 hurt. A senior ministry official later told one regional outlet the number of dead had risen further still, with several of the wounded in critical condition. Authorities cautioned that the count remained preliminary as rescue teams continued to recover bodies from the wreckage.

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Footage circulated after the collision showed both buses swallowed by flames, with rescue workers moving among the debris. Syrian Civil Defence teams said they brought the fire under control and treated survivors at the scene before moving them to a hospital in Palmyra. In one clip carried by regional broadcasters, a child was seen crying as he searched the roadside for his parents.

The Defence Ministry dispatched several helicopters to airlift the injured, flying them from Palmyra to the military hospital in Homs. Ambulances and emergency crews worked alongside the military to clear the site and ferry the wounded to nearby facilities, a slow effort on a road where the nearest advanced care can be hours away.

The interior ministry in Damascus expressed "deep sorrow" over the deaths.

The disaster has once again drawn attention to the state of Syria's highways, which have deteriorated sharply after more than a decade of war. Crumbling road surfaces, ageing vehicles and thin enforcement have made the long desert routes between Damascus, Homs and Deir ez-Zor particularly dangerous. Syria's Civil Defence, known as the White Helmets, recorded more than 600 traffic accidents in the first three months of 2025 alone.

An investigation into the cause of Saturday's collision was under way.