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JAKARTA, July 13 (Xinhua) -- A total of 447 people died in traffic accidents while traveling to their hometowns to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr festival in Indonesia, police revealed here on Wednesday.
The Eid al-Fitr festival was celebrated on July 6 to 7, but travel peaked here from June 30 to July 12 in Indonesia.
Brigadier General Agus Rianto, national police spokesman, said at the police headquarters that the number of fatality decreased by 15.02 percent compared with last year.
The number of people sustaining serious injuries also fell by about 12 percent, to 634, according to data from the police.
However, up to 2,537 people suffered from minor wounds, the highest on record, the data has shown.
The spokesman said that 2,427 traffic accidents took place during this year's festival travel season, 4.07 percent down from last year.
According to the transport ministry, the decline was in part because many passengers have shifted the way of their journey to air transport from land transport, Sugihardjo, secretary general of the ministry, said on Wednesday.
Over 17 million Indonesians returned to their hometowns every year to celebrate the festival with their relatives, data from the ministry has shown. Enditem
