At least 311 people were killed and 862 injured in accidents in 13 days during Eid journey this year, indicating that around 24 people were killed on an average, said Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity.

Of the total number, 274 people were killed and 848 wounded in 205 road accidents between June 19 and July 1, the organisation said at a press conference yesterday.

Three people were killed and 14 injured in riverine accidents while 34 were crushed under the wheels of trains during the same period, said the platform for commuters at the briefing held at Bangladesh Crimes Reporters' Association auditorium in the capital.

This year's figure shows that there is a sharp rise in the number of fatalities compared to the same period last year. 

In the 12 days during Eid rush last year, 200 people were killed while 764 injured in 127 accidents, said the organisation.

“The number of accidents has comparatively increased this year,” Samity's Secretary General Mozammel Haque Chowdhury told The Daily Star after the press conference.

Poor road condition, peeding, overtaking vehicles, plying of relatively slow vehicles alongside the speedy vehicles, unskilled drivers and unfit vehicles, among others, are the main reasons behind the road accidents, he said.

The organisation prepared the report monitoring the reports of 22 national and six regional dailies and 10 online news portals. It has been preparing the report for the last four years as the number of accidents sees alarming rise during the Eid holidays.

The organisation said buses were involved in 38 percent accidents while trucks and pickups in 34 percent, three-wheelers and motor cycles in 24 percent, and other vehicles in four percent accidents.

To prevent road accidents, the organisation recommended setting up a research unit for road accidents, taking measures to control the speed of vehicles, constructing a separate lane for speedy vehicles, and executing the government ban on three-wheelers and slow-moving vehicles on national highways.

On Saturday, National Committee to Protect Shipping, Roads and Railways (NCPSRR), an organisation campaigning for safety in the transport sector, in a report said casualties in road mishaps has increased by 18.35 percent and the number of accidents increased by 8.6 percent in the first six months of this year.

At least 2,297 people were killed and 5,480 injured in road accidents in the last six months, a sharp rise in the death toll compared to the same period last year, it said.

The organisation, however, said the number of causalities during Eid holidays slightly decreased this year. NCPSRR said 120 were killed in the last eight days of June that included Eid holidays. The number of deaths was 133 during the same period last year.