JEDDAH, 16 June — Two African women were killed and 14 others seriously injured when a van taking them from Makkah to Jeddah overturned close to Bahrah bridge, Al-Madinah reported yesterday.
The driver lost control of the van, which swerved from its lane and overturned several times.
According to an official source, the accident occurred because the van was carrying twice as many passengers as its capacity. A number of the injured, who were admitted to King Khaled National Guard Hospital and Thaghr Hospital in Jeddah, were in coma.
The passengers were on their way to a wedding party.
The Kingdom suffered a total loss of SR21 billion, in addition to several thousand lives, in 2000 because of road accidents, according to a study prepared by the National Company for Cooperative Insurance.
The loss deprived the country of the equivalent of five percent of its GDP.
Noting the traffic-accident rate in the Kingdom as one of the highest in the world, the study revealed that 264,3000 accidents occurred in 2000, with 4,290 deaths and 31,000 injuries. The daily average was 12 deaths, with four injuries an hour.
Mansoor Al-Muqrin, director of personal insurance at the NCCI, said the total volume of insurance will cross the SR2 billion mark with the implementation of new regulations, such as mandatory insurance for all drivers.
Out of a total of six million cars on the Kingdom’s roads, only 30 percent are insured.
