TEHRAN -- The death toll from road accidents during the two-week Nowruz holidays in Iran has hit 1,168, higher than the previous year, an official said on Wednesday.
Abbas Masjidi Arani, the head of Iran’s forensic medicine organization, said during the period between March 16 and April 4, a total of 1,168 people lost their lives in traffic accidents.
He said the maximum number of fatalities was recorded on March 17 and April 2 during the holidays, with the provinces of Fars, Sistan-Baluchistan, Kerman, and Tehran topping the list.
Iran’s calendar year starts on March 21, which sees people traveling within or outside the country.
Last year, the number of casualties from traffic incidents during the holiday season was 1,083.
Road accidents have become a common feature of annual Nowruz holidays in Iran, which experts mostly attribute to reckless driving, lack of adherence to traffic rules as well as poor road safety standards.
The holiday rush is mostly seen in northern Iran’s Gilan and Mazandaran provinces, which are located on the coast of the Caspian Sea, as well as southern Fars