At least 5 children killed in road accident

AFYONKARAHİSAR-Demirören News Agency

At least five children, aged between 11 and 14, have been killed when a school bus overturned after the driver lost control of the vehicle in the western province of Afyonkarahisar.

The accident, in which five other students were also injured, occurred in the early hours yesterday near a village in Afyonkarahisar’s Iscehisar district.

Police, fire department and gendarmerie units, as well as paramedics, were dispatched to the scene after one of the students, who sustained mild injuries, walked for around one kilometer to the village and informed locals about the accident.

The driver of the vehicle carrying elementary school children was detained.

Education Minister Mahmut Özer issued a message extending his condolences to the families of those children who lost their lives in the accident.

Meanwhile, Labor and Social Security Minister Vedat Bilgin, who was in Afyonkarahisar to attend a meeting, visited the children at the hospital where they were being treated for their injuries.

Each year hundreds of people are killed in road accidents in Turkey.

Last year, nearly 4,900 people lost their lives, down from the previous year’s death toll of around 5,500. In 2015, more than 7,500 people were killed in road accidents.