2 killed, 32 injured in 2 road accidents

MUSCAT: Two people died and 20 others were injured in a bus accident in the Governorate of Muscat on Wednesday. The bus was carrying 25 passengers.

The Royal Oman Police (ROP) said, “The bus carrying 25 passengers met with an accident near Halban Bridge, resulting in the death of two people and injuries to 20 others, one of them is critical.”

In another accident in Al Wusta Governorate, 12 people suffered light to medium injuries. The governorate’s health administration said, “Haima Hospital received 12 cases following a traffic accident that resulted in three cases of medium injuries and nine cases of light injuries.”

The Sultanate’s traffic system has seen significant improvement during the past five years in terms of traffic safety indicators, despite the increase in the road networks and the rise in the number of vehicles.

The National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI)’s traffic data have revealed that the number of traffic accidents has declined during the past five years by 66.2 per cent to reach 2,120 from 6,279 in 2015.

The data also indicate that the rate of traffic accidents was down from one accident every two hours in 2015 and 2016 to one accident per four hours in 2019.

Muscat recorded 27.7 per cent of the total accidents in 2019, followed by the governorate of Al Dakhiliyah with 14.7 per cent, Al Batinah with 13.3 per cent, Dhofar with 11.4 per cent, North Al Batinah with 10.7 per cent, North Al Sharqiyah with 6.1 per cent and South Al Sharqiyah with 5.4 per cent. The governorate of Al Dhahirah accounted for 4.2 per cent, Al-Wusta 3.9 per cent, Al Buraimi 2.1 per cent, and Musandam 0.5 per cent.