JUMLA, Feb 27: Over 3,000 vehicle accidents have occurred in Karnali province in the past five years. According to the details from the Karnali Province Police Office, 3,085 vehicle accidents were recorded from Karnali from 2018 to mid-November 2024. These accidents resulted in 787 fatalities and left 6,167 injured.
Karnali Province includes Jumla, Kalikot, Mugu, Humla, Dolpa, Jajarkot, Rukum West, Salyan, and Dailekh districts. According to statistics, the accident rate in Karnali Province is increasing every year. In the fiscal year 2018/19, a total of 146 road accidents occurred across Karnali Province. This increased to 236 in 2019/20. The statistics show that 291 accidents reported in the fiscal year 20720/21, followed by 415 in the fiscal year 2021/22, with 549 in the fiscal year 2022/23, and 1,086 in 2023/24.
Similarly, in the four months of the current fiscal year 24/25 (from mid-July to mid-November), 362 vehicle accidents occurred across the province. Of these, more than 110 vehicle accidents occurred around the festival season from early-October to mid-November. Police statistics show that 28 people lost their lives in those accidents and over 300 were injured.
According to the statistics of the provincial police, an average of three vehicle accidents occur daily in Karnali. Narayan Dangi, Deputy Superintendent of Police and spokesperson of the provincial police office, said that accidents on the roads of Karnali are more common due to long journeys, old vehicles, overspeeding, overloading, geographical remoteness, poor road conditions and driver negligence.
Karnali covers a total area of 27,984 square kilometers. The province has a road network of 9,687.62 kilometers. According to the provincial police office, this includes 1,265.41 kilometers of blacktopped roads, 1,020.65 kilometers of gravel roads, and 7,401.56 kilometers of unpaved roads.