Nearly 23 people were killed daily on average in road accidents between March 26 and April 5 during Eid-ul-Fitr, one of the biggest religious festivals of Muslims, according to a Road Safety Foundation report published on Monday.
At least 249 people were killed in 257 road accidents in the 11 days, it also showed.
The report was prepared on the basis of news published in different media outlets, said a press release issued by the Road Safety Foundation, a non-government organisation working for passengers鈥� rights and safety.
The report said that as per different media reports, the number of people injured in the road accidents in the period was 553, but the number would be over 2,000 in reality.
Among the fatal victims, the highest, 42.57 per cent, was killed in motorcycle-related accidents.
In the same period, 13 people were killed and 15 others were injured in six waterways accidents and 12 people were killed and eight others injured in 17 railways accidents, the report showed.
Eid-ul-Fitr was celebrated in the country on March 31.
On the occasion, the government announced a five-day holiday from March 29 to April 2. April 3 was announced a general holiday, which was followed by weekly holidays of April 4 and 5. March 28 was also a weekly holiday.
The RSF report said that between March 26 and April 5, 106 motorcyclists and their pillion riders were killed followed by 49 passengers of three-wheeler vehicles, including auto-rickshaws, battery-run rickshaws, easy-bikes, auto-vans and legunas, 39 pedestrians, 32 transport workers, 18 drivers and passengers of cars, microbuses and ambulances, 14 bus passengers, 10 passengers of locally made transports like nasimons, karimons, and bhatbhatis, nine illegal passengers of trucks, pickup, tractors, lorries and covered vans and four bicyclists.
In the motorcycle-related accidents, 13 pedestrians were killed and 57 per cent of the victims of these accidents aged between 14 and 20 years.
Among all the deceased, 59 were children.
Of the accidents, the highest, 38.13 per cent, took place on regional highways and the highest, 26.84 per cent, took place in the afternoon.
The highest, 43.96 per cent, was caused as the drivers lost control of their vehicles, followed by 26.45 per cent by head-on collisions, 15.95 per cent in which vehicles hit pedestrians, 9.33 per cent when vehicles were hit by other vehicles from behind and 4.28 per cent by other reasons.
In the Dhaka division the highest number of accidents, 74, were occurred and the highest number of people, 62, were killed while in the capital, in 31 accidents seven were killed and 48 others were injured.
The RSF report also said that only in two days of Eid holidays, 571 people were admitted to the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation in Dhaka after getting injured in road accidents, mostly motorcycle related.
The foundation blamed vehicles without fitness on roads, reckless driving, unskilled drivers on roads, tendency to violate laws and lack of capacity of the authorities for the road accidents.
It recommended taking initiatives to increase skills of drivers, ensuring fixed salaries for drivers and implementation of laws to check road accidents.