Suspects acquitted in deadly train accident case in Turkey

KÜTAHYA – Hürriyet

Hürriyet photo

A local court has ruled that 10 suspects on trial for the death of nine people in a 2008 train accident in Sakarya are not guilty.

The Kütahya 1st High Criminal Court’s verdict was based on an expertise committee’s report that “the accident was coincidental and unpredictable.”

The case, which lasted three years, had six expertise committees prepare “controversial reports,” with a seventh report bringing the trial to an end.

A passenger train departing from Istanbul’s Haydarpaşa to the western province of Denizli derailed in central Turkey Jan. 27, 2008, killing nine people and injuring dozens of others.

Two engine drivers, Mustafa Kurnaz and Tarık Yalçın, were arrested right after the accident but released 11 days later.

A criminal case was filed 18 months after the accident against some 10 suspects including the state-run Turkish Railways deputy director İsa Apaydın, seeking 3 to 6 years imprisonment for “killing by gross carelessness.”

The final expert report said an invisible failure at the point where the rails connected caused the accident.