Mumbai tops in accidental deaths

Mumbai: The country’s financial capital has earned the dubious distinction of being the nation’s death capital as well, with the highest number of accident deaths.

The latest figures by the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) on accidental deaths in 2008, show that Mumbai accounted for 18.5% of the total number in 35 mega cities.

Traffic accidents comprised road, rail-road and other railway accidents. Fire was also a major cause of accidental deaths.
State-wise Maharashtra reported the highest number of accidental deaths - 58,755 out of 3,42,309 - nationwide in 2008.

Nationwide, during 2008, the number of road accidents, fire accidents and heart attacks increased compared to the previous year. About 3.5 lakh accidental deaths were reported in the country in 2008, of which 93% were due to unnatural causes while the rest were due to causes attributable to nature like lightening, floods, starvation, heatstroke, etc.

Also, throughout the country, men constituted 77.1% of accident death victims, most aged between 15 to 44 years.