As many as 299 people were killed in 277 road accidents across Bangladesh during the Eid-ul-Azha holidays, according to data aggregated by a passenger welfare body.
Besides, some 544 people were injured in these accidents, Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samiti said at a press conference at the Bangladesh Photojournalist Association auditorium in Dhaka on Saturday.
Secretary General Mozammel Haque Chowdhury said their road accident monitoring cell prepares a report like this every year.
According to the report, 299 people were killed and 544 were injured in 277 road accidents in 15 days from the start of the Eid trips on June 22 to the return to work after Eid on July 6.
“If we compare the traffic during Eid-ul-Azha in the previous year 2022, road accidents this year have decreased by 15.16%, fatalities by 33.11% and injuries by 42.27%.”
Apart from this, 25 people were killed and 10 injured in 25 incidents on railways during this period.
Meanwhile, 16 people were killed, 15 people were injured and six people went missing in 10 accidents on waterways.
According to the report, although motorcycles were at the top of accidents for the past several years, this year's observation shows that truck-pickup-covered vans are at the top of accidents this Eid due to the widespread movement of animal-laden vehicles and the free movement of trucks-pickup-covered vans disobeying Eid travel ban.
This Eid, 93 people were killed and 193 injured in 88 truck-pickup-covered van accidents, which is 31.76% of the total number of road accidents, 31.10% of the dead and 35.44% of the injured. Along with this, 94 people were killed and 77 people were injured in 91 motorcycle accidents, which is 32.85% of the total number of accidents, 31.43% of the fatalities and 14.15% of the injuries, according to the report.