Increase in Road Accident Fatalities in Iran; 520 Deaths by April 8

Ahmad Shirani, head of the traffic control center of Iran’s police, announced that the death toll from accidents between March 16 and April 8 was 520 people.

Also, the head of the Iranian Red Crescent’s rescue and relief organization stated that in the first seven days of the year, 1,010 traffic accidents were recorded in Iran, which represents a “40 percent” increase compared to the same period last year.

According to news agencies, on Monday April 8, Mahdi Valipour, head of the Iranian Red Crescent’s rescue and relief organization, announced that the total rescue and relief operations in the country from Wednesday March 16 to Sunday April 7 was “1,893 cases,” which showed a 70 percent increase compared to the same period in 2020.

According to this Red Crescent official, the most rescue and relief missions were conducted respectively in the provinces of “Khuzestan with 172 cases, Isfahan with 154 cases, and Mazandaran with 152 cases.”

Iran has one of the highest rates of traffic accidents, and many experts consider the poor quality of domestically produced vehicles as a major factor in these accidents.

Kamal Hadiyanfar, head of the traffic police, called domestic vehicles “death carriages” in February of last year following a chain collision on the Behbahan-Ramhormouz road.

Source: Voice of America