VIDEO: Pileup on deadly road kills 12 in southeast Turkey

ŞANLIURFA - Doğan News Agency

DHA photo

A multiple-vehicle collision killed 12 people amid difficult weather conditions on a “deadly” highway in a southeastern Turkish province on March 29.

Coupled with thick fog and pouring rain, the slippery road between the city of Şanlıurfa and its Akçakale district near Turkey’s border with Syria was the scene of a crash between a concrete mixer, a minibus and an automobile in the afternoon.

Eyewitnesses claimed the minibus violated its lane despite the low visibility, crashing into the concrete mixer head-on. The automobile then crashed into the two vehicles as they spun on the road.



Several people, including Syrian citizens, flew from inside the minibus and the automobile onto the road. Ambulances arriving at the scene found eight people had been killed immediately. Four others who were hospitalized could not be saved and died later from their injuries.

Police have launched an investigation into the accident, in which six people were also injured but survived, on a strip of highway where similar fatal crashes have happened in the past. Locals have even staged protests against the regular drivers of the road who routinely violate traffic laws.