Car crash in southern Iraq claims five lives – World

BAGHDAD – Five people were killed and four others injured in a car crash in Iraq’s southern Dhi Qar province on Tuesday, a traffic police official said.

Major Hussein al-Bahadly of the Dhi Qar provincial police command told Xinhua that a GMC SUV loaded with passengers overturned on the highway between Dhi Qar and Basra province in the afternoon.

He cited speeding and a flat tire as the cause of the accident.

Faleh Mohsen, a doctor at Nasiriyah Hospital, told Xinhua that five bodies and four injured people were hospitalized in the highway accident.

According to the Iraqi High Commissioner for Human Rights, more than 7,000 traffic accidents occurred in Iraq in 2023, mainly due to deteriorating road conditions, inadequate traffic signals and safety barriers, and disregard for traffic rules.