TEHRAN, March 28 (Xinhua) -- Nine people were killed, and another was injured on Thursday in a collision between two sedans in the central Iranian province of Semnan, the official news agency IRNA reported.

The collision, which was reported at 8:23 a.m. local time (0453 GMT), involved a Hyundai Sonata and a Peugeot 405 on a road from Damghan County in Semnan to Jandaq city in the central province of Isfahan, the IRNA reported.

The collision set both cars on fire, and three ambulances and a helicopter were immediately sent to the scene, IRNA quoted Pejman Qaraeian, head of the emergency medical services of the Semnan University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, as saying.

Mousa Bozorgi, Semnan's traffic police chief, said the accident was caused by Hyundai Sonata's deviation from its lane due to its drivers' drowsiness, adding all the four people in the car were killed.

He noted that six people were traveling in the other car, of whom five were killed.

The only survivor, identified as a five-year-old boy, was transferred to the hospital by the helicopter, said the IRNA, noting that the boy has suffered several bone fractures and is under treatment in the intensive care unit.

Road accidents and traffic fatalities typically increase in the days leading up to and during the Nowruz holidays, which celebrate the arrival of the Iranian New Year that fell on March 20 this year.

Since March, 14,585 people have been killed in road accidents in Iran, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Thursday. Enditem

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