Turkey crash: Fifteen people killed and 22 injured as bus collides with emergency vehicles
Fifteen people have died and 22 were injured after a bus collided with an ambulance in southeastern Turkey, according to a regional official.
“In all, 15 of our citizens died and 22 were injured… in an accident involving a bus, an emergency team and an ambulance,” the governor of Gaziantep province, Davut Gul, said.
Local reports suggest that an ambulance, a fireengine and a bus carrying journalists were all involved in a collision with a passenger bus.
A passenger bus reportedly overturned on Saturday and dragged for several metres along the road. In the process it hit a fire brigade and paramedic team, who were responding to an earlier traffic incident, as well as hitting a broadcast vehicle belonging to Turkish news agency IHA, TRT World reported.
The governor said that three firefighters, two emergency workers and two journalists were among the dead.
The crash happened at around 10:45am local time between Gaziantep and Nizip, close to Turkey’s border with Syria.
Photos of the scene show the back of an ambulance ripped out and metal debris strewn around it.
Turkey’s interior minister Suleyman Soylu said in a statement following the crash: “According to prelimary findings, the result of the bus that hit 112 Health, firefighters and police teams involved an accident on Gaziantep Nizip highway.
“A total of 15 of our citizens lost their lives, including two health officers, two IHA reporters, three firefighters and eight passengers.
“The injured were taken to hospital. Our governor and chief of police are at the accident site.
“May God have mercy on our deceased citizens and grant a quick recovery to the wounded.”
