BEIRUT: Lebanon witnessed its second-deadliest road accident of the year Wednesday when a bus collided with a stationary truck in Kesrouan, killing three of its passengers and injuring four more.

The passenger bus collided with a truck near the village of Buwar along a stretch of highway between the qadas of Jbeil and Kesrouan.

An eyewitness told a local television station that the truck was parked at the side of the highway when the speeding bus driver lost control of his vehicle and smashed into the truck.

The National News Agency identified the injured passengers as Imad Awad, Tanios Riashi, Imad Othman and Mohammad Nassif.

The Lebanese Red Cross said the injured passengers were transported to a local hospital and were all in a critical condition.

The passengers who were killed in the accident have yet to be identified.

The driver of the truck was Syrian national Bashar Mohammad and the bus driver was identified as Said Awad from Akkar. Both men reportedly fled the scene after the incident.

Last week, at least nine people were killed and 29 others injured when a Syrian bus carrying Syrian families from the Aleppo countryside overturned on the Damascus Highway in the town of Kahaleh, Aley. Frequent road accidents take place at the same spot.

The passenger bus, registered in Syria’s northeastern province of Hassakeh, was headed to Beirut when the accident occurred. The road remained closed for several hours until debris could be removed.

Separately, two men were injured on the Fouad Shehab overpass in Beirut after one of the men lost control of his car and crashed into a lamppost.