Two people have also been heavily injured in the traffic accident and have been sent to local health stations in Awi Zone for emergency medical treatment.
ADDIS ABABA (Xinhua)–A deadly traffic accident in Ethiopia’s Amhara Regional State, located in northern part of the country has left 14 fatalities, a local government office reported on Saturday, 27 October 2018.
In a press statement, Communication Office, Awi Zone of Amhara Regional State, said the accident happened on Saturday morning in Fagta Lekoma Woreda when a passenger minibus traveling on the road collided with a military truck traveling on the opposite side of the road, leaving 14 dead.
The statement further said two other people have been heavily injured in the accident and have been sent to local health stations for emergency medical treatment.
Some 5,118 people died in traffic accidents in Ethiopia during the just concluded 2017/18 fiscal year that ended on 8 July 2018, the country’s transport authority disclosed on 11 July 2018.
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According to the authority, the number of people killed and the rate of accidents occurred registered major increases during the period — the number of people killed increased from 4,500 to 5,118 while a record number of close to 41,000 traffic accidents were registered during the 2017/18 fiscal year.
Another 7,754 people had also sustained serious physical injuries from traffic accidents across the country, while some 7,775 others had light injuries, according to the report of the Ethiopian Federal Transport Authority.
The authority also indicated that Ethiopia’s rate of traffic incidents during the just concluded fiscal year has registered a 6-percent increase as compared with the previous year.
Though Ethiopia has one of the lowest per capita car ownerships in the world, deadly traffic accidents are fairly common with bad roads, flawed driving license issuance system and lax enforcement of road safety blamed.
With a growing economy and a rising middle class, the East African nation has for the past several years also recorded an average of more than 10 percent growth in vehicle numbers.
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Source: Xinhua