Six killed in road crash in Manisa

MANİSA

At least six people were killed and 42 others were injured when an intercity bus and a truck collided in western Turkey on Aug. 6.

The accident occurred in the province of Muğla’s Soma district in the early hours.

The intercity bus traveling on the Istanbul-İzmir highway from Istanbul to the province of Aydın’s Didim district rammed into a truck parked on the right side of the road.

Units from the police force and fire department, including paramedic teams, were dispatched to the scene.

The injured were transferred to the hospitals in the Balıkesir and Manisa while six died at the scene.

“Four people are in critical condition. The injured, including one foreign national, are receiving treatment in different hospitals,” said Yaşar Karadeniz, the governor of Manisa.

Some of the injured were later discharged from hospitals.

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

During the nine-day Eid al-Adha holiday in July, 50 people were killed and more than 370 others were wounded in road accidents.

According to data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK), over 983,000 road accidents occurred in Turkey last year, which claimed the lives of nearly 4,500 people and left more than 226,000 people injured.

The number of accidents in 2020 declined compared to the previous year because fewer vehicles and passengers were on the road due to coronavirus-related travel restrictions and other bans.

In 2019, nearly 5,500 people were killed and over 283,000 others were injured in some 1.2 million accidents.