Traffic accident injures nine in Koya

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A traffic accident between three vehicles in Erbil province’s Koya city led to the injury of nine people late Friday, according to a official from the traffic police. 

Sangar Saeed, spokesperson for Koya Traffic Police Directorate, told Rudaw’s Soran Hussein that three vehicles - a Kia Rio, a Nissan Tida and a Toyota Land Cruiser - collided in Koya’s Smaquli area, resulting in the injury of nine passengers, including people from northeast Syria (Rojava). 

“All the injured were hospitalised and an investigation has been launched into the incident,” the spokesperson added.

Car accidents are a common occurrence in the Kurdistan Region in comparison to many countries. According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report from 2018, road traffic injuries were the leading killer of people aged five to 29 globally, and the estimated rate of traffic fatalities per 100,00 population in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region was 20.7 percent in 2016. 

Over 600 people were killed in traffic accidents across the Region in 2021, with more than seven thousand injured, the spokesperson for the Region's traffic department told Rudaw in January.

A traffic accident between two vehicles in Sulaimani city on June 3 resulted in the death of three people and the injury of another. 

Another accident between a pickup vehicle and a minibus carrying students on Koya-Ranya highway last month injured both drivers and 14 students.