BAGHDAD, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Six children of a primary school were killed and some 10 others wounded on Tuesday in a run-over accident in Iraq's southern Basra province, the Iraqi News Agency (INA) said.
The incident occurred in the afternoon when a refrigerator truck ran over the children on a street outside their school in al-Hartha, some 15 km north of the namesake provincial capital Basra, INA said.
According to an initial investigation, the driver lost control of the truck due to brake failure, causing a run-over accident, INA said.
Iraqi security forces arrested the driver, while the authorities of the province declared a three-day mourning.
More than 7,000 traffic accidents occurred in 2023, mainly due to old and unqualified roads, the lack of sufficient traffic signals and safety barriers, as well as negligence of traffic rules, according to the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights. ■
