MUSCAT, 5 April 2004 — Fourteen people were killed and 93 injured during 145 road accidents in a single week between March 27 and April 2, according to the Royal Oman Police.
There were 77 head-on collisions, 17 run-overs, 15 turnovers and 36 collisions with stationery objects — one of which proved the most gruesome, killing three persons and injuring five. Speeding was the cause.
According to another report, the management, staff and students of the Indian School paid a tearful farewell to student Fayaz Shamsuddin, 10, who died in a road accident on March 29. Also killed were his mother, Niza Shamsuddin, and uncle Shahnawaz, while his brother Faisal (Grade 8) and sister Fousmi were injured. The school remained closed for a day to mourn the deaths.
The ROP has also renewed its appeal to motorists to follow traffic rules to the letter and be extra careful on Wednesdays and Thursdays to avoid what it calls “the weekend recklessness”.
The latest statistics suggest that there was a 12 percent increase in road accidents in 2003 over the previous year, with more mishaps on Wednesdays and Thursdays than other days. There were 10,197 accidents in 2003 against 9,017 in 2002. The number of fatalities however came down marginally during this period — to 578 from 580.
