The Emergency Operations Center (COE) released its final bulletin (No. 4) yesterday, Monday, 9 April on the Holy Week Operation for 2012 “For Your Safety and Values,” which revealed that nearly a thousand people had been affected, with 38 fatalities. The number of fatalities increased to 40 as two people who drowned in private swimming pools in Santiago are now included, according to the COE, all of which makes this past weekend the most deadly in the last three years. Last year, the number of fatalities was 30 and during Easter Week 2010 the number was 32, which means that the slight downward trend recorded since 2009 when there were 56 fatalities, was also reversed.
Traffic accidents were the leading cause of death with 31, and they were also responsible for 687 injuries out of a total of 986 reported during the holiday recess. After traffic accidents, alcohol poisoning was the cause of three deaths and 264 injuries, including 29 minors, while drowning caused four deaths.
COE director General Juan Manuel Mendez Garcia expressed regret at the fatalities, saying that they have saddened Dominican families and sullied the objective of the operation to prevent them. He added that the increase in the numbers this year was related to the growing numbers of vehicles on the roads, based on figures released by the Metropolitan Transport Authority (AMET), which noted that around eleven thousand new licenses are being issued each month.
Mendez Garcia also pointed out that most accident victims had been drinking, adding that reports from the rescue agencies showed that of 406 accidents registered, 172 (42.36%) occurred in the small hours – between midnight and 6am. It is also worth noting that motorcyclists made up 74.19% of the accident fatalities, or 24 of the 31 deaths.