Staff Correspondent:
More than 553 people were killed and 669 injured in 388 accidents in the country last month.

Accidents on roads, railways, and waterways killed at least 553 people and injured 669 others last month (August), passengers’ welfare body Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity said Wednesday.

388 road accidents left 459 people dead and 618 injured, according to a monitoring cell report of the platform.

Besides, 14 people were killed and three others injured in 15 railway accidents.

During this period, 41 accidents on waterways claimed the lives of 80 people and injured 52. Thirty-one more remain missing.

The platform prepared its report after reviewing media reports published in different newspapers.

Md Mozammel Haque Chowdhury, general secretary of the organization, who presented the report, blamed dilapidated road conditions caused by the recent flood and plying of human haulers on highways and roads for the accidents.

He said motorcycles and reckless driving also put road safety at risk.

Mozammel also stressed the need for modernization of the traffic system and removing unfit vehicles for ensuring road safety.

Motorcycles were responsible for 28.98 percent of the accidents, trucks and covered vans 21.61 percent, buses 16.12 percent, auto-rickshaws 8.74 percent, battery-run rickshaws, and easy bikes 9.77 percent, human hauler 7.71 percent, and jeep and microbus 7.03 percent, according to the report.