Four dead in car accident near Duhok

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – At least four people died in a car crash on the main road connecting Duhok province and Mosul on Saturday, marking the second deadly car accident near the Kurdish province in less than a week.

Those who died in the accident are members of the same family, according to Azad Taha, the spokesperson for Duhok Traffic Directorate.

The victims are from northeast Syria, known as Rojava among the Kurds.

“They were on their way to attend a funeral in Zakho,” Layas, a relative of the victims who only gave his first name, told Kurdistan 24.

Speeding is suspected to be the cause of the crash between a vehicle and a car, he added.

The official did not elaborate further on the health condition of the truck driver.

Footage shared with Kurdistan 24 showed the wreckages of the crashed cars and corpses laying on the ground on the scene.

The deadly accident comes as another accident on Thursday near Zakho district in Duhok resulted in 30 causalities, including a death.

Kurdistan Region has witnessed a number of deadly traffic accidents since last year.

In a single-car accident in March this year, at least 5 people were killed in Erbil.  Eight members of a family died in a similar car accident in Duhok province last October.

Mobile phone usage and excessive speeding are two leading causes of fatal accidents, as well as not adhering to driving safety measures, such as wearing seatbelts. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the use of seatbelts reduces death rates by 45% and serious injury by 50%.

As part of efforts to strengthen road safety measures, Kurdistan Region traffic authorities have begun rolling out point-to-point speed cameras across the provinces’ main roads.