10 people were killed and 39 others injured after a horrific road accident late yesterday on a motorway in Mersin, on Turkey‘s southern coast, when a bus full of passengers travelling between Diyarbakır and Istanbul collided with two vehicles and a truck near the town of Yenice, in the Tarsus district.
Turkish media reported that the accident occurred on the motorway connecting Adana and Mersin when the bus lost control, overturned and entered the oncoming lane, causing a chain collision with a car, a van and a truck. A large number of emergency personnel – including gendarmes, firemen and medical staff – immediately rushed to the scene to evacuate the injured, who were taken to hospitals in Adana and Mersin.
The governor of Mersin, Ali Hamza Pehlivan, confirmed from the scene of the tragedy that initially 10 people were killed, according to the latest estimates of the emergency services. Pehlivan explained that, for reasons still under investigation, the bus entered the oncoming lane while making a turn and overturned, first hitting a car and a van, and then a truck. It is being investigated whether the bus driver was speeding, which may have caused him to lose control due to the wet asphalt from the rain.
Numerous authorities, including Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdoğan, have expressed their condolences for the victims. “I pray that Almighty God has mercy on our citizens who have lost their lives in the terrible traffic accident that has occurred on the Tarsus-Adana-Gaziantep highway. The relevant authorities have immediately launched the relevant investigation into the accident… My condolences to the families, and to our nation,” Erdoğan said.
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Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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