A total of 63 people were killed and 56 injured in traffic accidents across Vietnam during the three-day holiday period celebrating the Hung Kings Festival, ending on April 18.

The number of recorded traffic accidents during the three days was 83, according to the National Traffic Safety Committee.

There were 81 road crashes that claimed 62 lives and wounded 55 people, the committee reported.

A total of 33 traffic accidents occurred across the country on Monday alone, of which 32 were road collisions, killing 23 people and injuring 23 others, with one railway accident causing the death of one driver.

“Most of the fatalities occurred because people were driving under the influence of alcohol or riding without helmets,” news website VnExpress quoted Nguyen Trong Thai, from the head office of the National Traffic Safety Committee, as saying.

According to the committee, the most serious accident over the three-day holiday was a case in which four people in a taxi cab were killed after the vehicle plunged into a lake in the northern province of Lang Son.

Traffic police across the nation dealt with about 2,962 violations, imposing fines worth VND582.8 million (US$26,132) and confiscating 23 automobiles and 324 motorcycles.

Waterway police in Vietnam also reported 463 traffic offenses, adding VND146.8 million ($7,389) worth of fines to the state treasury.

Some 164 violations were also recorded on the country’s expressways, in which officers suspended 16 driver’s licenses, seized 14 vehicles and wrote fines worth VND118 million ($5,291).

Every year on the tenth day of the third month in the lunar calendar, Vietnamese people commemorate the death of the Hung Kings, the first 18 monarchs who reigned over ancient Vietnam from around 2879 to 258 BC.

Hung Kings’ Death Anniversary has been a public holiday since 2000 with offerings held simultaneously at over 1,400 Hung King temples nationwide. The biggest event traditionally takes place at the Hung Temples Relic Site in Viet Tri City, Phu Tho Province.

This year, the kings’ death anniversary fell on April 16, when public servants and students across the nation began a three-day holiday.

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