Thailand's Songkran death toll rises to 218

BANGKOK, April 15 (TNA) - There have been nearly 1,900 traffic accidents during the ongoing Songkran or traditional Thai New Year celebrations nationwide over the past four days, with nearly 220 fatalities and more than 2,000 injuries. Thai Deputy Education Minister Sermsak Pongpanit told journalists on Monday that there have been 1,897 traffic accidents nationwide from April 11-14, with 218 people killed and 2,020 others injured. Sermsak said that drunk driving had caused the lion’s share, or 41.9 per cent, of the four-day traffic accidents, while fast driving beyond speed limits had caused 23.5 per cent of the traffic accidents, and that most of the traffic accidents, or 74.1 per cent, involved motorcycles, particularly those who did not wear helmets, and 65.8 per cent of the traffic accidents were reported on straight roads and 38.8 per cent took place on local roads. According to the deputy education minister, most of the four-day traffic accidents had taken place in Nakhon Sawan Province in the Lower Thai North; while most of traffic fatalities had been recorded in Phitsanulok and Phichit Provinces in the Lower Thai North, as well as Surat Thani Province in the Thai South and Chiang Rai Province in the Thai North, three each. The deputy education minister reported that the highest injuries in traffic accidents had also been recorded in Nakhon Sawan, but provinces which had been free from traffic accidents over the past four days included Nontaburi and Ang Thong in the central region, as well as Chon Buri and Trat in the Thai East, Chaiyaphum, Maha Sarakham and Amnat Charoen in the Thai Northeast, Ranong , Phuket , Pattani and Yala in the Thai South. The deputy education minister acknowledged that traffic accidents and road casualties had, however, dropped over the past four days, compared with the same period of last year, but concerned authorities have continued taking precautions, as part of the Songkran vacationers have started returning today, and that he has ordered concerned officers to maintain their services nationwide for motorists at rest areas, to enforce traffic rules seriously and to strictly test drivers for alcoholic levels.(TNA)