Five people dead in Sivas lake crash

SİVAS – Doğan News Agency

DHA Photo

Five members of a family have died in central Anatolia, as their car crashed into a lake on May 18 while they were driving on an unused road which lacked barriers or warning signs.

Five people including two children were confirmed dead after their automobile crashed into a lake in Yıldızeli, a district in the central Anatolian province of Sivas.

The driver, 32-year-old Göksel Cankurtaran, was operating the vehicle carrying four passengers including his mother, wife and two children while moving to the Kale village from Ankara.

The driver chose to use an unused path rather than a village inroad and carelessly crashed his car into the Çağlayan Watering Lake, a tiny lake near the Çağlayan village in Sivas.

The unused road ended abruptly at the lake with no barriers or warning signs preventing drivers from using the road. An investigation has been launched into the incident.

Local fishermen spotted dead bodies on the surface of the lake on May 19 and informed local authorities of the incident. Local gendarmerie forces and several medics were dispatched to the scene. In a preliminary search, the car was found along with the dead bodies of the driver’s mother, 66, his wife, 34 and his two daughters; one 7 and the other 8.

The bodies were taken to the Yıldızeli State Hospital in Sivas for an autopsy.