Brazil, March 07: During the first 48 hours of Brazil’s annual five-day Carnival, 95 people have reportedly lost their lives on national highways, while many others have been injured.
At least 37 people died in road accidents on Friday and another 58 on Saturday, with an additional 555 injured, a Media correspondent reported.
At least 25 were killed in just one accident on Saturday when a lumber truck plowed into a bus on a highway outside the southern town of Descanso.
The State of Minas Gerais alone has already had about 23 deaths reported this holiday season.
During the first few days of last year’s Carnival, 143 deaths were reported in 66,000 kilometers of federal highways. Minas Gerais, with 26 fatalities, had the highest death rate on federal roads.
In Brazil, road accidents claim more than 35,000 lives each year. This high number is primarily due to careless driving and infractions of highway rules and regulations.
Brazil’s inter-city highways are widely known for being among the most dangerous in the world.
——–Agencies