“Today at 11:30 am, we were informed that a traffic accident had taken place between Bestana and Badawan villages… The [overturned] minibus carried 14 passengers. Unfortunately, 12 people were injured but the driver later succumbed to his wounds. A couple of them are in an unstable condition,” Malband Hamad, director of Khalakan hospital, told Rudaw.
He added that the injured passengers will be transferred to Sulaimani for further treatment.
Hamad also said that these accidents are very common on the highway, calling on the government to find a solution.
Car accidents are a common occurrence in the Kurdistan Region in comparison to many countries.
In November, Bahman Abdullah, spokesperson for Sulaimani traffic police, said they had reported over 600 car accidents in the province from January to August of 2023, resulting in 92 people killed and 2,189 others wounded.
Over 3,700 traffic accidents occurred across the Kurdistan Region in 2022, killing at least 445 people and injuring 7,250 others, according to data from the Region’s general traffic police directorate.
