Muscat: A horrifying total of 18 people were killed on Oman roads in the week ending October 22 - including three university students who died in a horrific crash involving a bus carrying 45 female pupils.

And authorities said the Omani bus driver was later found to be without the required driver's licence.

The crash left 41 injured - including four who were admitted to hospital with serious injuries.

“Two are still hospitalised even after 11 days,” a spokesperson for the Royal Oman Police (ROP), told Gulf News.
 
The Department Head in charge of Traffic Accidents at the Directorate General of Traffic Abdullah Bin Hamad Al Hosani said the driver of the bus which had been carrying the students did not hold the licence which qualified him to drive the heavy vehicle.

Al Hosani alleged that the bus crash was caused by speeding. “Due to high speed the vehicle went out of his control when he braked suddenly,” he said.

As the bus driver lost control he hit a parked truck before turning over, police said. “The high speed of the bus caused it and the parked truck to be dragged off road,” he said.

However Al Hosani also said that the truck had been dangerously parked on the shoulder of the road. “The truck was parked in such a way that portion was jutting out on the road,” Al Hosani said.

Al Hosani that by exercising caution and paying attention, drivers could avoid traffic crashes. “While driving, drivers must attention on the road and avoid vehicles hitting vehicles parked wrongly like that truck,” he said.

He also urged college and school authorities to ensure that drivers hired for school and college buses held a valid, heavy-vehicle driver's licence.

“We have set procedures for drivers to pass for getting heavy vehicle driving licence,” he said.

The senior traffic official also asked teaching institutes to make sure that their vehicles were good condition. “There should be periodic inspections and ensure tyres are changed properly,” Al Hosani added.

From six deaths involving school and college vehicles in 2007, the number of fatalities in crashes involving students' transport vehicles had gone up to a total of eight in first five months, according to statistic released by the ROP recently.

Add to that death of three students last week, the toll this year has gone up to 11 already.  

“If we look at the causes of these incidents to show us that it is often the bus driver was at fault,” he added.

Al Hosani said many of the bus drivers overlook traffic laws, especially when it came to speeding.