Court demands arrest in Çorlu train accident

TEKİRDAĞ

Prosecutors have decided to arrest Mümin Karasu, a maintenance manager at Turkish State Railways (TCDD), in the case of a deadly train derailment in the northwestern province of Tekirdağ’s Çorlu district in 2018, killing 25 people.

The court imposed travel bans and judicial control conditions on the railway officials Levent Kaytan, Nizamettin Aras, Burhan Ortancıl and engineers Tevfik Baran Önder, Deniz Parlak and Kubilay Başkaya, who denied the crimes.

Demanding that the defendants Levent Meriçli and Nihat Aslan, who didn’t attend the hearing, be present at the next hearing, the court decided to arrest Karasu, the regional maintenance service manager, by issuing an arrest warrant.

The case was adjourned to Jan. 11, 2023.

Speaking at the hearing, Mısra Öz, mother of Arda Sel who died in the accident, said, “I have been living with the longing for my son for 1,550 days. We have been thirsty for justice for years; we expect justice from the court.”

The Çorlu Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office previously filed a lawsuit against local railway officials Turgut Kurt, Özkan Polat, Celaleddin Çabuk and Çetin Yıldırım on charges of “causing death and injury by negligence,” seeking a prison sentence of two to 15 years for each.

As a result of the expert reports and the evaluation received by the prosecutor’s office on Sept. 9, it was decided to expand the investigation and to file lawsuits against nine more people.

At least 24 people were killed and more than 341 injured on July 8 when most of a passenger train derailed in northwestern Türkiye.

The train was heading to Istanbul from Edirne, on the border with Greece, with 362 passengers and six crew members, the Transport Ministry said.

The ministry also said five of the train’s six cars derailed in a village in the Tekirdağ province after “the ground between the culvert and the rails collapsed” due to heavy rains.