Death toll during Thailand's Songkran festival reaches over 320

BANGKOK, April 18 (TNA) - The total death toll during the so-called "seven dangerous days" of the Songkran or the traditional Thai New Year festival 2013, from April 11-17, reached 321, which was higher than last year's. Thai Deputy Interior Minister Police Lieutenant General Chat Kuldilok announced the official fatalities slated during this year's Songkran festival on Thursday, when he closed the government's adhoc centre for preventing and mitigating road accidents during the seven dangerous days. Police Lieutenant General Chat acknowledged that the 321 fatalities came from accumulated 2,828 road accidents during the seven-dangerous-day period, when there were also 3,400 injuries totally, with drunk driving being the main cause of the road accidents, followed by speedy driving, while motorcycles remained the number one vehicle causing the road accidents. According to the deputy interior minister, most road accidents during this year's Songkran festival happened in Chiang Mai province in the Thai North, recorded at 104, while Prachuap Khiri Khan province in the Upper Thai South had the highest accumulated death toll of 12 and Chiang Mai had the highest accumulated injuries of 110. The deputy interior minister noted, however, that there were five Thai provinces with no fatality from road accidents recorded during this year's Songkran celebrations, or zero death toll, including Chaiyaphum in the Northeast, Trat in the East, Pattani, Phuket and Ranong in the South. The deputy interior minister pointed out that the official statistics showed the number of injuries from road accidents during this year's Songkran festival dropped from last year's but the number of death toll slightly increased. (TNA)