Report: 2 road accidents in Syria kill 16 people, injure 33

Sixteen people were killed and 33 injured in two separate road accidents in central Syria on Saturday, the official SANA news agency reported.

The report said a minibus with 14 passengers on board collided head-on with an incoming truck on the Damascus-Palmyra road, some 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Damascus, killing 12 people and seriously injuring two. Both remained in a coma.

Elsewhere, four people were killed and 31 injured, some seriously, on the Damascus-Homs highway, some 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of Damascus, when a speeding bus with 50 passengers collided with a truck loaded with oranges, SANA said.

Mohammad al-Kasim, an expert with the Interior Ministry road accident prevention department, said speed and foggy weather were to blame in both accidents.