Car accident in northeastern Ethiopia kills 8

ADDIS ABABA, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- A car accident in Afar regional state located in northeastern part of Ethiopia has killed eight people, an Ethiopian official said on Tuesday.

Mohammed Nuradem, chief traffic official of Afar Police Commission, said the accident happened Monday afternoon when a passenger autorickshaw collided with a freight vehicle.

Nuradem said the dead are the autorickshaw driver and his seven passengers, with the driver of the freight truck currently in custody pending investigation into the nature of the car accident.

Police are yet to determine the cause of the car accident, while the bodies of the dead have already been sent to their families for burial.

Despite having one of the lowest per capita car ownerships in the world, deadly traffic accidents in Ethiopia are common with blames put on bad roads, flawed driving license issuance system and lax enforcement of road safety.

Traffic accidents during the Ethiopian Fiscal Year 2016/17 that ended on July 8 in 2017 led to deaths of 4,500 people, according to Ethiopia Federal Transport Authority.