A total of 8,543 people were killed and 14,318 others injured in 6,210 road, railway and waterway accidents across the country in 2019, said Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity, a passengers’ welfare platform, on Saturday.

Of them, 5,516 road accidents left 7,855 people dead and 13,330 others injured.

Md Mozammel Haque Chowdhury, general secretary of the association, presented the findings of a report at a press conference at the Bangladesh Crime Reporters’ Association auditorium in the capital.

Deaths in road crashes increased by 8.07 percent in 2019 than that of 2018, it said.

In the just-concluded year, 469 people were killed and 706 others injured in 482 railway accidents while 203 accidents on waterways claimed the lives of 219 people, and left 282 others injured and 375 more missing.

Reckless driving, risky overtaking, dilapidated roads, unfit vehicles, unskilled drivers, using mobile phones or headphones while driving and lack of awareness among road users were cited as main reasons behind road crashes.

According to a report published by Nirapad Sarak Chai (Nischa) on January 4, as many as 5,227 people were killed and 6,953 others injured in some 4,702 road accidents across the country in 2019. Besides, 198 others were killed in train accidents.