Turkish train derailed; 24 dead
ANKARA: Twentyfour people have been killed in northwest Turkey after five carriages of a train derailed following heavy rain and a landslip, deputy prime minister Recep Akdag said yesterday.
Hospitals nearby were treating 124 people injured in Sunday’s accident, Turkish health minister Ahmet Demircan said, according to state media.
Akdag said the search and rescue effort in the wake of the accident was halted yesterday morning.
The train was carrying 362 passengers at the time of the accident.
TV images showed several wagons lying on their side.
A survivor, walking along the rail track away from the accident site, told CNN Turk television he had seen many bodies.
The local governor in Tekirdag, about 120km west of Istanbul, blamed heavy rain. — AAP