A total of 166 people were killed in road accidents in Thailand during the past three days after the nation started celebrating the annual Songkran Festival, officials announced Thursday.

Aside from the loss of lives, the 1,994 road accidents recorded during the period also caused injuries to 2,149 people, a senior official from the Justice Ministry Uthairat Chaiprasert told a press conference.

The Thai Road Accident Prevention Center has been monitoring road accidents since Monday and found that most of the accidents happened due to drunk driving and speeding.

The body said that so far the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima had the largest number of deaths, at 11, followed by Ubon Ratchathani with 10.