KUALA LUMPUR, June 16 — The Fire and Rescue Department (FRD) received 30 reports of deaths due to road accidents nationwide during the month of Ramadan which began on May 27.

Its assistant director-general (Operations), Datuk Zulkarnain Mohd Kassim said most of the fatal road accidents occurred between 6pm and 7.30pm, when Muslims were rushing home to break their fast.

"Therefore, I advise motorists to be patient and tolerant for the sake of road safety," he said during the talk show 'Ruang Bicara' on Bernama News Channel (BNC) last night.

The FRD would station one fire engine with seven officers and three officers of the Emergency Medical Rescue Services (EMRS) during Ops Raya in 19 strategic locations on North-South Highway Expressway (NSE) and East Coast Expressway  (ECE) from Sunday (June 18).

Zulkarnain said the joint operation to be coordinated with other agencies for 15 days is expected to provide emergency assistance more quickly and shorten the response time to reach the scene of the accident.

Members of the public were reminded to turn off the main switch before travelling to the village for Aidilfitri celebration and to unplug electrical equipment from the socket to avoid short circuits.

"This is because statistics in 2016 show that 2,005 fires broke out due to electricity and these two factors are the main cause of fire cases," he added. — Bernama