The accident happened in a rural area near Vahdat city on the Dushanbe-Kulob-Khorog highway at 6:30 a.m., killing the truck driver and a driver and nine passengers in the two cars, the Ministry of Internal Affairs said.

Minister Ramazon Rahimzoda, the prosecutor of Vahdat and other officials visited the crash scene, according to the ministry. An investigation was underway.

Vahdat is about 20 kilometers east of Dushanbe, Tajikistan’s capital.

The Dushanbe-Kulob-Khorog highway is about 600 kilometers long and traverses mountainous terrain, linking the capital with Khorog, capital of the Gorno-Badakhshan autonomous region in eastern Tajikistan.