Rescue Team Reports Increasing Road Accidents In Capital
Road accidents continue to kill and maim people across the country and Vientiane rescue teams are on standby 2 4 hours to help crash victims.
According to the rescue team of the Foundation for Assisting Poor People of the Lao PDR (Vientiane Rescue) the number of road accidents was continuing to increase with the team being called out more frequently attending up to 40 to 50 accidents each day. This compared with only five to 10 calls a day last year.
The rescue team reported over the six months period from January to June this year they attended 735 road accidents in Vientiane, during which 49 people were pronounced dead on the scene.
Vientiane Rescue only began collecting accurate statistics from April last year but noted the number of traffic accidents had definitely been increasing since then.
Of the 735 accidents attended by the foundation’s rescue team some of the critically injured may have also since died but they didn’t have access to that information.
A member of the team Mr Sipasued Sivongxay said most of the accidents took place in Xaythany, Chanthabouly, Hadxaifong and Sisattanak districts with a majority of critical injuries and fatalities occurring in the evening.
Of the victims 355 were students, along with 308 workers and 287 general staff.
Meanwhile, they noted the main causes of accidents attended as reckless driving and general violation of traffic rules.
Traffic Police Department of the Ministry of Public Security also reported last week that road accidents were a major problem nationally with 77 and 80 people killed in May and June respectively.
Vientiane currently has three rescue teams serving the public, namely those from the Lao Red Cross, the Association of Voluntary Rescue of Vientiane and also the Foundation for Assisting Poor People of the Lao PDR (Vientiane Rescue).
The teams are now coordinating their rescue efforts through a common 24 hour communications hotline, with the numbers 1623 (Vientiane Rescue) and 1624 reserved for road accident emergencies.
Source: Vientiane Times
