Iraq: 18 people were killed, most of them Iranian visitors, in a traffic accident that occurred at dawn on Saturday, north of Baghdad, a new toll, according to medical sources.
The accident occurred between the cities of Dujail and Samarra in Salah al-Din Governorate, according to what the Iraqi News Agency reported, quoting the Director General of the Health Department in the governorate, Khaled Burhan.
The accident occurred between two minibuses shortly before midnight, killing 18 people and injuring 15 others, according to what a medical source in Salah al-Din told AFP.
The source said that eyewitnesses indicated that the driver of one of the buses may have fallen asleep behind the wheel while driving.
A second medical source, who requested to remain anonymous, said that 14 of the dead were Iranian visitors, in addition to two Afghans and two unidentified people.
An official in the Roads Authority said that the drivers were killed, pointing out that one of the buses, which was on its way to Karbala, deviated from its route and deviated into the opposite lane.
The Iraqi News Agency had previously reported that 16 people were killed and 13 others were injured in the accident.
According to the latest figures from the Iraqi Ministry of Interior, more than 2.6 million visitors entered Iraq through land ports and airports for the purpose of visiting Karbala to commemorate the Arbaeen of Hussein.
At least 20 people, most of them Iranian visitors, died in traffic accidents that occurred in southern Iraq on Monday and Tuesday, coinciding with the influx of crowds of visitors to the city of Karbala.
Roads witness frequent accidents due to the collapse of infrastructure throughout Iraq.
A report prepared by the Ministry of Health for the year 2022 indicated that more than 4,900 deaths were recorded as a result of traffic accidents.
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