There's been an urgent appeal for blood donors in South Africa, with traffic accidents claiming hundreds of lives during the holiday season.

The blood transfusion service says it has only one day's supply of blood left and needs at least six-thousand litres immediately.

Many regular donors have gone home to rural areas or are away on holiday.

But the BBC correspondent in Johannesburg says the real problem is the huge number of road accidents blamed on drunken and reckless driving.

More than six hundred people have been killed since the beginning of the month, and hundreds more injured.

A publicity campaign warning of the dangers is said to have resulted in only a slight decrease in accidents.