8 killed in bus crush in western Turkey

AFYONKARAHİSAR

Eight people were killed and 28 others were injured when a bus overturned in the early hours of Sept. 18 in Turkey’s western Afyonkarahisar province, according to local police.

The bus skidded off the road and plunged into a ditch on the Afyonkarahisar-Antalya highway, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Police units, rescue and emergency teams, including the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), were dispatched to the crash site.

The wounded passengers were rushed to nearby hospitals.

Thousands of people lose their lives in road accidents in Turkey each year.

According to data from the security general directorate, a total of 7,427 people were killed and more than 300,000 others were wounded in traffic accidents in 2017.

The data also showed that 6,400 road accidents involving death occurred last year.

A total of 147 people lost their lives and 702 others were injured in road accidents across the country during the long Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha or “Feast of Sacrifice” in August this year alone. Some 192 accidents occurred between the end of the work day on Aug. 17 and the evening of Aug. 26, claiming the lives of 147 people.