HO CHI MINH CITY, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) — A total of 21,589 traffic accidents occurred in Vietnam last year, killing 8,685 people, severely injuring 6,180 people and slightly hurting 13,100 others, the country's Traffic Police Department said Monday.

The numbers of traffic accidents, deaths and slight injuries caused by the accidents dropped, respectively, by 5.5 percent, 0.5 percent, and 13.2 percent from 2015. However, the number of severe injuries increased 3.3 percent.

On average, in 2016, Vietnam each day saw 59 traffic accidents which claimed 24 lives and injured 53 people.

The country reported 22,404 traffic accidents which killed 8,671 people and injured 20,556 others in 2015.