A Makkah-bound Egyptian expatriate and a woman died in a traffic accident on the Hijra Road at Kilo 60. Three other passengers were injured in the accident, a Red Crescent official said.

Mahmoud Khayyat, a spokesman at the Red Crescent, said “three ground teams and a helicopter were sent for first aid as soon as the Red Crescent control room received the accident report. A critically wounded man was airlifted to King Fahd Hospital and the other two victims, who sustained less serious injuries, were sent to the Miqat General hospital.”

Meanwhile, Col. Salman Al-Jamie, Makkah Traffic Administration director, said 19,308 traffic violations were registered in Makkah during the first week after the special traffic plan for the Umrah season was implemented on Jan. 12.

Traffic police detained 852 vehicles and detected 77 violations for the illegal transportation of passengers during the week. They also discovered 79 cars with obscured number plates, 619 cases of unlawful parking and 688 cases of running red lights. They also seized 33 motorcycles during the week, he said.

He said the concept of driving in the same direction has been introduced on the Sheikh Abdullah Al-Kholaifi Street both in the morning and at night.

He said there was a notable fall in accident rates within the city, while there was a slight increase in the number of accidents occurring on roads outside the city.

The special traffic plan for the Umrah season began last week. The plan was mainly implemented on the main routes close to the central zone near the Grand Mosque.

The plan includes a ban on parking in the central zone and tunnels, the approval for public transport vehicles and the allocation of taxi stands in the central zone, in addition to parking for people with special needs at Shobaika, Gazzah and Bab Al-Malik.

The plan will also prohibit cars from entering pedestrian passages half an hour before and after each major prayer with the exception of Fridays, during which driving on pedestrian passages will be halted an hour prior to and an hour after prayer.