19 killed in traffic accident in northern Sudan

A total of 19 people were killed on Sunday and 12 others injured in a traffic accident on the national road linking the Sudanese capital Khartoum and the Northern State, official SUNA news agency reported.

"The accident took place at Um Al-Hasan area, some 240 km north of Khartoum, when two passenger trucks collided as they were running on different directions,", the agency quoted Brig. Ahmed Abu Zaid, commissioner of Al-Daba locality in northern state, as saying.

Menwhile, Ahmed Abdin, medical director of Al-Tadamon hospital in Al-Daba town, was quoted as saying that "13 men, two children and four women were killed in the accident."

He added that 12 others were transferred to Khartoum hospital.

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

During 2014, traffic accidents killed around 2,000 people and injured 5,000 others, where 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.