BAGHDAD -- Five people were killed and four others injured on Tuesday in a car accident in Iraq's southern province of Dhi Qar, a traffic police official said.

Major Hussein al-Bahadly from Dhi Qar provincial police command told Xinhua that a GMC sport utility vehicle carrying passengers overturned in the afternoon on the highway connecting Dhi Qar and Basra province.

He attributed the cause of the accident to speeding and a tire burst.

Faleh Mohsen, a doctor at Nasiriyah Hospital, told Xinhua that the hospital received five bodies and four injured in the highway accident.

More than 7,000 traffic accidents occurred in Iraq in 2023, mainly due to deteriorating road conditions, inadequate traffic signals and safety barriers, as well as negligence of traffic rules, according to the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights.