Horrifying accident claims 13 lives [Archives:2003/661/Local News]

By Farouk Moqbil
Yemen Times Staff
Hodiedah
Hodeidah, August 19 – 13 people were killed and 21 injured in a traffic accident that took place in Saudi-Haradh highway near the Yemeni-Saudi border on August 18.
Around 64 passengers coming from different Yemeni cities including Taiz, Ibb, Hodeidah, Shabowa and Aden were on a bus belonging to the Peace Transportation Company, when it crashed head-on to a truck on the highway.
Rescue teams rushed to the scene of tragedy as the injured were taken to the city of Hodeidah to receive medication.
Traffic policemen said that the main reason behind the accident was the break-neck speed of the bus, which resulted in its crash into a truck loaded with wood after the driver, who was injured at the scene lost control.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior released statistics last week indicating that around 57 Yemenis were killed and about 347 injured in traffic accidents in just one week in all the governorates of the republic. These are only the reported incidents, as there are many other incidents never reported.
“The number of traffic accidents in just one week has reached 195 and the material loss is estimated at around YR. 12 million [USD 70,000]” the report said.
Those incidents can be attributed to the high speed, punctures, traffic violations, bad weather, lack of continuous technical check ups and bad conditions of roads.
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