‘Road crashes kill 259 during Eid holidays’

Some 259 people were killed and 960 others injured in 237 road accidents across the country in 13 days during the Eid-ul-Azha vacation, Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity, a passengers’ welfare platform, said on Friday, reports UNB.

The road crashes took place on different national and regional highways from 16 August to 28 August, according to a report prepared by the platform. 

Placing the report during a press conference at the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity in the city, Jatri Kalyan Samity secretary general Mozammel Haque Chowdhury said the number of road crashes saw an increase during this Eid vacation than that of the last year.

He, however, said the death toll in the road accidents decreased this year due to strict monitoring by the authorities concerned, including police, Rapid Action Battalion and Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), following the recent student demonstrations for road safety.

At least 274 people were killed in 205 road accidents while travelling during Eid-ul-Azha last year and the figure was 248 in 193 road accidents during the Eid-ul-Azha journey in 2016, Mozammel said.

Apart from road accidents, four people were killed, 68 injured and eight others remained missing in 14 waterway accidents while 15 people were killed and seven others injured in 19 train accidents across the country during the period, he said.

“We’ve prepared the statistics based on reports published in national and regional newspapers and online news portals in the country,” the Jatri Kalyan Samity secretary general added.