26 people died in different accidents during long holiday

Esther Katongo

Twenty six people died in different road traffic accidents in the country during the just ended unity and heroes long weekend.

Police Spokesperson Esther Katongo says during the same period a total of 310 road traffic accidents were recorded indicating an increase from the 282 accidents recorded during the same period in 2016.

Ms Katongo says the number of people that died this year decreased by 21 compared to 47 people who died in 2016.

She states that fifty six people sustained serious injuries in 2017 compared to 75 in 2016.

Ms Katongo says Lusaka Province recorded the highest number of road traffic accidents, followed by Copperbelt and Central provinces respectively, while Western province recorded the least number of accidents.

Meanwhile, Ms Katongo says a total of 1,901 shops were burnt in yesterday inferno that gutted part of City Market in Lusaka.

Ms Katongo says some of the shops were sub divided by owners of the shops meaning that there could be more people affected than the given number of shops.

She says the police are still quantifying the total value of property damaged in the fire.

Ms Katongo states that all the affected shops were on the southern part of the market.