Holiday season in Oman sees record road deaths

MUSCAT // Sixty-two people have died on Omani roads in the first 24 days of this month in 192 accidents. Police say it is the highest death toll in any month since Oman began keeping records in 1978.

The Royal Oman Police said in a statement yesterday that 312 people were also injured and that a third of those who died were killed driving to Salalah on holiday.

Thirty six people died in road accidents in July last year. The toll so far this month surpasses the previous high of 47 deaths on Oman roads during May of 2003.

Police attribute the record deaths to people rushing to do their domestic vacations before Ramadan begins, a police spokesman said.

Ramadan is expected to start on August 1. Salalah, a coastal resort in the southern region of Dhofar, is a popular resort where the temperature during the summer months is an average 27°C.

salshaibany@thenational.ae