Source: At least 34 dead and dozens injured in two accidents…
Found on: 2022-08-20 23:08:53
According to local media reports, at least 34 people were killed and dozens more were injured in two separate car incidents on Saturday.
Authorities in Gaziantep province have updated the death toll from a previous collision involving a bus and an ambulance from 16 to 15.
The collision occurred between the provincial headquarters of Gaziantep and Nizip, and according to Governor Davut Gul, “a bus, an emergency team and an ambulance” were involved.
According to the DHA news agency, a passenger bus collided with an ambulance, a fire engine and a vehicle carrying journalists at the site of a previous collision.
Local media said that among the dead were two journalists from the Turkish news agency Ilhas and three emergency medical workers.
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Photos released by the DHA show the rear of the ambulance torn off and the bus badly damaged.
According to the DHA, the bus driver is being questioned by the gendarmes, who are trying to determine what happened.
A video grab taken from an AFP TV recording on August 20, 2022 shows a bus after colliding with an ambulance on the road between the provincial capital Gaziantep and Nizip. (Demiroren News Agency (DHA) / AFP)
investigations started
Several hours earlier, some 250 kilometers away, another fatal accident occurred while emergency services were responding to an earlier incident at the scene, and prosecutors are now investigating both incidents.
According to an updated Twitter post by Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, at least 19 people were killed and almost 30 injured after a truck driver ran over pedestrians in Derik, Mardin province.
According to Koca’s account, “the brakes gave out on a truck, which ran over a crowd” in the city of Derik, in Mardin province. He also said 26 people were injured, six of them seriously.
A video grab taken from an AFP TV recording on August 20, 2022 shows a truck after an accident in the Derik district of Mardin.(Demiroren News Agency (DHA)/AFP)
The Turkish media broadcast the terrifying scene of a truck driver losing control and heading into oncoming traffic and running away from pedestrians.
Shortly before, the official Turkish Anadolu news agency reported a collision involving three cars at the same location. When the truck crashed into the concentration, emergency personnel were already present.
On Twitter, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag revealed that prosecutors had launched two separate investigations into the mishaps.
He tweeted his condolences to people who had lost loved ones, writing: “All resources are mobilized.”
Anadolu Agency said that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had dispatched Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu to the crash site and that he was expected to arrive later on Saturday.