‘33 killed in various incidents across Kingdom during Eid Al Adha holiday’

AMMAN — Thirty-three people died in accidents across the Kingdom and dozens were injured during Eid Al Adha, officials said on Saturday. 

Sudden lane changes, speeding, loss of control and lack of concentration were the main causes of road accidents during the holiday, which started last Sunday and continued through Thursday, according to the Central Traffic Department’s (CTD) Lt. Col. Yaser Habahbeh. 

In 2015, 17 people died during Eid Al Adha, but this year’s death toll was higher due to a number of fatal accidents on the fourth day of Eid, the Muslim feast marking the end of the pilgrimage season. 

“The deadliest day was Thursday when 13 people died in traffic accidents,” Habahbeh told The Jordan Times. 

Meanwhile, four people drowned over Eid, including two in the Dead Sea, one in Waleh in Madaba and one in Irbid’s Eastern Ghor Canal, according to the Civil Defence Department (CDD). 

Four people died and 29 were injured in road accidents on Sunday, which marked Arafat Day, which precedes the start of Eid Al Adha. 

A 24-year-old man died in Mnashiet Bani Hassan in Mafraq, 80km northeast of Amman, said Habahbeh, while a truck driver was killed in Maan, 220km south of Amman, due to a wrongful overtaking. 

A five-year-old boy was killed in a crash in Balqa’s Deir Alla, and a 34-year-old man was run over and killed on Amman’s Airport Road, the CTD official said. On Monday, the first day of Eid Al Adha, one person died and 27 were injured in traffic accidents across the Kingdom. 

A car crash in Madaba, 30km southwest of Amman, led to the death of one person and the injury of two others, who were listed in critical condition in Al Nadim Public Hospital. 

On Tuesday, one person died and 19 were injured in traffic accidents. A pickup truck wrongfully changed lanes on Um Al Rassas Circle, causing the death of a 24-year-old man and the injury of four others, Habahbeh said. 

Eight people were killed and 28 injured in road accidents on Wednesday. 

A 12-year-old boy was run over and killed in Amman’s Zuhour area, while three people were killed when two cars and a pickup truck collided near the central market in Khreibet Al Souk in the capital. 

A 21-year-old and a 34-year-old were killed in a crash in Zeezia, and a man died in Deir Alla when a minibus wrongfully overtook. 

A 35-year-old man died in Madaba when a car wrongfully changed lanes near Dabaa. On Thursday, the last day of Eid, 13 people were killed and 21 injured in road accidents. 

Five people died and one was injured in a crash on Amman’s airport road.

In Balqa’s Siteen Street, a 75-year-old man died when a vehicle collided with a lamppost, and in Tafileh, a 6-year-old girl was run over and killed. 

In Mafraq, a 16-year-old died in an accident caused by a driver who wrongfully changed lanes, while two brothers, aged 12 and 16, died in a crash in Maan. 

In Southern Shuneh, a 75-year-old woman died in a crash, while two middle-aged sisters were run over and killed in Jerash. 

One person died on Friday, the CDD said, when a car wrongfully overtook another vehicle in Madaba.