Hundreds killed in Latin America's carnival season
The carnival season, which began on Saturday and ended on Tuesday in many Latin American countries, has led to a soaring death toll, mostly from road accidents, according to reports reaching here on Wednesday.

In Ecuador, police reported that the celebration left 112 dead, up from 104 a year earlier, and 115 injured. The dead included 38 killed in traffic accidents, 21 drowned, 18 murdered, five suicides and another 30 deaths from other causes. Traffic accidents injured 113 people, and violence two.

Police officers arrested 745 people and seized around 18.8 kg of drugs, including 15.4 kg of cocaine. The Ecuador Red Cross attended 720 medical emergencies, during the Carnival.

In Caracas, the country's director of Civil Protection, Antonio Rivero, told local radio that 83 people died, and 524 were injured in 1,500 traffic accidents in Venezuela during the holidays.

"It is not because of road problems ... it is the human factor," he said.

The carnival season triggers a large number of extra journeys, with 12 million people traveling in three million vehicles, he estimated.

More people died this year than in 2006, due to more cars, more travels in areas that had not been used for traveling and more excessive drinking, Rivero said.

Brazilian police reported that at least 33 people died in traffic accidents in one state alone: Minas Gerais, which registered a 27 percent increase in deaths compared to 2006. There were 326 accidents during the carnival weekend.

The worst accident was in Mariana, a historic city, where a bus carrying 39 people hit a truck head on, killing 16 people and wounding 25 others.

In Bolivia, 33 died across eight cities, the National Bolivian Police told local media.