JAKARTA: At least 88 people have been reportedly killed due to traffic accidents in recent days leading to the Eid al-Fitr holiday later this week that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan fasting, ANTARA reported the police as saying. “On Saturday there were 252 traffic accidents across the country and on Sunday 304 cases claiming 88 lives and seriously injuring 105 people,” said Indonesia's National Police`s chief of public information, Brigadier General Boy Rafli Amar. He said the largest number of accidents in Java was recorded in Central Java totaling 93 accidents followed by East Java reaching 56 cases and Jakarta with 12 incidents. The biggest number of accidents in Sumatra meanwhile was recorded in South Sumatra at 25 while in Kalimantan was in West Kalimantan at 10. He said the police appealed to the people wishing to travel by motor vehicles to celebrate the festivities in their home towns or villages to be careful and take a rest when they felt tired. “We hope people would be very careful. We have already stationed our personnel at locations considered vulnerable to traffic accidents to assure traffic safety,” he said. Millions of people in Indonesia would travel to their hometowns or villages to celebrate the Islamic festivity at the weekend to mark the end of fasting month, which means the exodus, which started since last week, is going to continue. Last year, over 16 million Indonesian returned to hometowns for the celebration, which is a tradition in the archipelago country with over 17,500 islands.
