32 killed in traffic accident in eastern Sudan

A traffic accident killed 32 people and injured 12 others Thursday on the road linking the Sudanese capital and Port-Sudan city in eastern Sudan.

"The accident took place at Al-Rawjal area, some 530 km north-east of Khartoum," the report said.

It added that the accident took place when a passenger bus carrying passengers who were traveling to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah ritual collided with a fuel truck.

Eyewitnesses were quoted as saying that bad weather and poor visibility caused the accident.

Last January Sudan's general administration of traffic police said 1662 people were killed in traffic accidents in 2015.

Sudan is among countries of the high death rates in traffic accidents, mainly due to careless driving, crumbling roads or invalidity of some vehicles used in public transportation.

Citizens and vehicle drivers complain about poor road conditions, while the ministry of roads and bridges attributes the accidents to overloaded trucks and high speed.

Sudan's interior ministry recently said it was working out new plans to reduce traffic accidents, including installation of radars to monitor speed on the country's highways.