Deaths in road accidents during Eid down 61 pct, says minister

ANKARA

Deaths due to road accidents during the Eid al-Fitr holiday declined by 61 percent this year, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu has said.

Even though the Eid holiday has already ended, and many people returned to their home towns, police units will remain on duty to conduct traffic inspections until the end of the week, the minister wrote on Twitter.

Eid al-Fitr holiday, which marked the end of the Islamic Holy month of Ramadan, took place between May 2 and May 4. During the holiday millions of people traveled to visit relatives or for vacation. Many people hit the roads earlier even before the Eid started.

The Interior Ministry separately issued a statement, saying that thanks to the strict measures taken and a campaign launched to encourage the use of seatbelts, the number of traffic accidents, which resulted in casualties, declined significantly in this Eid holiday compared to the previous years.

“Compared to the Eid holidays in the last 10 years, during this year’s Eid holiday the number of road accidents declined by 37 percent while the number of people who lost their lives in those accidents fell by 61 percent. The number of injured also fell by 47 percent,” the ministry said.

Between April 30 and May 5, total of 30 people were killed in 27 road accidents in 18 provinces, the ministry said.