una imagen de un autobús volcado junto a la carretera junto a una imagen de una mujer siendo sacada en camilla de una ambulancia

16 injured, two seriously, in tourist bus accident in Turkey

A tourist bus carrying tourists from Brazil, Costa Rica and Taiwan overturned this morning in central Turkey, after veering off the road linking Aksaray with Nevşehir, leaving an initial toll of 16 injured, two of whom are in a serious condition.

The accident occurred at around 8.00 am near the village of Alayhan, according to the Turkish news agency DHA. The vehicle, a tourist minibus carrying the tourists from Avanos – a historic town in the Cappadocia region – to the district of Sultanhanı, left the motorway for reasons that are still under investigation after the driver lost control, and the tourist coach ended up overturning onto an embankment.

After the emergency services were alerted by other drivers who witnessed the incident, gendarmerie officers, medical teams and units from the AFAD (Disaster and Emergency Management Agency) were dispatched to the scene to attend to the victims. According to initial reports, a total of 16 people were injured in the accident.

Two of those injured in the accident are in a critical condition

The injured were taken by ambulance to Aksaray Hospital. According to initial reports, two of the people admitted to hospitals in the city are in a critical condition, although neither their identities nor their nationality have been disclosed as yet. The investigation into why the bus veered off the road is still ongoing.

Accidents involving buses and tourist minibuses are a growing cause for concern in Turkey, where accident statistics have shown an upward trend in recent years. Among the main causes of these accidents are speeding, failure to take account of weather and road conditions, and failure to comply with traffic regulations, as well as driver fatigue and lack of rest, particularly during night-time journeys.