Three Qataris die in road accident in Saudi coastal city of Salwa

Cairo: A Qatari family of seven had a road crash in Saudi Arabia, leaving three of them dead, according to Saudi medics.

The accident happened on a highway in the Saudi coastal city of Salwa near the border with Qatar. Ambulatory teams from the Salwa General Hospital had handled the mishap in cooperation with the Saudi Red Crescent teams, local medics said.

The four other members of the family were transferred to the hospital. The nature of their injuries was not revealed.

The cause of the tragedy was not given either.

Recebt road crashes in the Kingdon

In recent months, Saudi media reported several deadly accidents.

Last month, two vehicles collided on a road leading to the Saudi holy city of Medina, leaving four people dead.

In May, a bus, carrying university students, collided with a car in the central city of Buraidah, leaving one female student dead and 24 others injured, their university said.

In March, 21 Umrah pilgrims were killed and 29 others injured when their bus turned over in the south-western Asir region.

Toughening penalties to curb accidents

In recent years, Saudi authorities have toughened penalties against traffic offences to reduce road crashes.

Traffic fatalities have dropped by around 35 per cent in five years from 2016.

The annual cost of traffic accidents in Saudi Arabia is estimated at around SR11.7 billion.

Around 9,420 accidents were registered inside the Kingdom’s cities against 7,542 outside them last year, according to official figures.

Those accidents resulted in a total of 4,555 deaths.

Male drivers outpaced women involved in those mishaps, according to the report based on findings by a ministerial committee for traffic safety.