10 Killed, 73 Injured as Train En Route Istanbul Derails in Turkey

Owing to the heavy rains and a landslide, a train carrying 362 passengers came off the rails in northwest Turkey.

At least 10 people were killed and more than 70 injured on Sunday, 8 July, when multiple cars of a train derailed in northwest Turkey.

(Photo: AP)

Ten people were killed and 73 wounded when a train came off the rails in northwest Turkey on Sunday, 8 July, after heavy rains and a landslide, Turkish television channels quoted a health ministry official as saying.

The train was carrying 362 passengers and was headed to Istanbul when five carriages came off the tracks, the transport ministry said in a statement.

Television images showed several wagons laying on their side and emergency personnel walking to reach the crash site.

One survivor, walking along the rail track away from the accident site, told CNN Turk television that he had seen many more than 10 bodies.

A statement from the prime minister’s office said a suburban train suffered an accident after a landslide. “Unfortunately we have fatalities and casualties,” it said.

The local governor in Tekirdag, about 120 km (75 miles) west of Istanbul, blamed heavy rains for the derailment.

“Our helicopter ambulances have reached the site. Many of those injured have been taken off the site,” Mehmet Ceylan said.

President Tayyip Erdogan’s office said he had received information from the ministers of transport and interior about the incident, and sent condolences for those killed.

(This story has been published in an arrangement with Reuters.)