103 killed in car accidents during Eid al-Adha

ISTANBUL

DHA photo

Some 103 people were killed and hundreds were wounded in traffic accidents that occurred during the nine-day Eid al-Adha holiday in Turkey, the Interior Ministry reported on Sept. 19.

A total 7,175 people were wounded in 3,129 traffic accidents in Turkey in spite of precautions taken by police on the roads to prevent a repeat of past holidays in which there have been a large number of fatalities on the road.


Decrease in accidents

This pointed at a 27 percent decrease in thne number of accidents when compared to the same holiday last year. 

Some 281,000 security members were on duty during the holiday, the ministry added. 

It pointed at the fact that the number of vehicles in traffic increased 22 percent in the past three years and the cars in traffic rises some 500 percent during bayram holidays. 

The death toll was higher on the first day of the holiday on Sept. 10, according to Doğan News Agency.  The highest number of accidents occurred on the seventh day of the vacation, with 32 traffic accidents occurring on Sept. 16. 

Deadly traffic accidents usually occur in Turkey during the long Eid holidays, when hundreds of thousands of people take to the road for holiday or to visit family.