Twenty people died during New Year’s holiday

Twenty people died while 68 others sustained serious injuries in separate road traffic accidents country wide during the New Year’s holiday.

During the same period, the Zambia Police Service received seven reports of murder with no arrest.

Police Spokesperson Esther Katongo says during the same holiday, Police recorded 212 Road Traffic Accidents throughout the country of which 16 were fatal Road Traffic Accidents in which 20 people died while 33 were serious Road Traffic Accidents in which 68 people were seriously injured, 50 were classified as slight road traffic accidents in which 96 persons sustained minor injuries.

Ms Katongo says 113 were damages only in which no person had injuries.

She says when compared to last year during the New Year holiday, the country recorded a total number of 237 road traffic accidents out of which 17 were fatal road traffic accidents in which 17 people died, indicating a decrease in recorded road traffic accidents by 25%.

She discloses that Lusaka Province recorded the highest number of accidents with 83 road traffic accidents with two deaths, Copperbelt had 31 accidents with two deaths, Central Province had 18 accidents with two deaths while Northern Province and Kenneth Kaunda International Airports recorded the least road traffic accidents with six and three road traffic accidents respectively.

Ms Katongo has also disclosed that during the same period under review, the significant cases recorded were Assault Occasioning Actual Bodily Harm with 123 cases in which 89 arrests were made, followed by 34 cases of theft with 19 arrests, 18 reports of Burglary and Theft with 16 arrests, eight Thefts from Motor Vehicle with six arrests, six cases of Malicious Damage to Property with four arrests while four were reports of aggravated Robbery with one arrest.