MUSCAT // Three students died and 31 were injured after the driver of a college bus lost control and ploughed into a parked vehicle on the day Oman kicked off a traffic safety campaign, local newspapers reported.
Last month, the Royal Oman Police announced that October 18 would be national Traffic Safety Day in an effort to reduce the high number of road accidents in the country.
The three students who died were women studying at the Middle East College of Information and Technology in Muscat. Four injured women were in critical condition in the Royal Hospital in Muscat.The other students, and the driver, were released with minor injuries. All of the students were between 18 and 22 years old.
The bus, which was bringing the students home, veered off the road after a tyre burst and hit a parked lorry before rolling over.
Road accidents in Oman dropped 4.2 per cent in the first seven months of this year to 4,270 compared to the same period last year, but experts said the figure was still high.
“Though we acknowledged that the accident rate is lower now it is still unacceptable. We need more roads and regular maintenance on our highways to reduce traffic jams and increase safety,” Mukhtar al Rawahi, a member of the non-governmental Road Safety Organisation, said today.
salshaibany@thenational.ae
