Turkey train derailment kills at least 10, injures 73
Ground under tracks appears to collapse due to heavy rains in western province of Tekirdag; local hospitals ask for blood donations
ISTANBUL — At least 10 people were killed and more than 70 injured Sunday, when multiple cars of a train derailed in western Turkey, a Turkish official said.
Health Ministry Undersecretary Eyup Gumus put the number of fatalities at 10 and the people injured at 73, based on initial reports from the scene, according to Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency.
Turkish media reported that the train left Edirne, on the border with Greece, bound for Istanbul with 360 passengers. The train derailed in a village in Tekirdag province.
An unnamed survivor told the private DHA news agency that she had been riding in one of the derailed cars, when it went off the tracks.
“There were deaths immediately, people whose legs were crushed. It was a horrible accident,” DHA quoted her saying.
A photograph of the site showed collapsed ground under the rails. Video footage captured overturned cars and several people being carried away on stretchers.
https://twitter.com/MustafaEdib/status/1016008839458623488
Tekirdag governor Mehmet Ceyhan said the area where the derailment happened was muddy from heavy rain and difficult to reach.
Emergency services and military helicopters arrived at the scene. The local Corlu municipality tweeted that hospitals needed blood donations for the injured.
#Latest: Several bogies of a passenger train derailed in Turkey’s northwestern Tekirdağ province.
Turkish Red Crescent disaster teams, which have taken action since the initial moments of the accident, continue to work in the region. pic.twitter.com/cuqL4ClVAJ
— Türk Kızılay International (@RedCrescent) July 8, 2018
