Death, injuries in week on roads
ONE man died and 12 people were injured — five seriously — in two crashes on the Girne-Güzelyurt road this week.
Turkish tourist Metin Atalay, 52, a front seat passenger, was killed when two cars collided near Kalkanlı in the early hours of Sunday and six others were injured, four seriously.
Passers-by helped free Mr Atalay, who had arrived from his home in Adana just two days earlier, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Three ambulances were used to convey his body and the injured to Lefkoşa State Hospital. Of the six people injured, one was discharged but Mehmet Geçmen, 60, who had been trapped in the wreckage, was said to be in a critical condition with chest injuries, while the other four had all sustained fractures.
Six people were treated for minor injuries after a dolmuş and minibus collided on the same stretch of road on Monday lunchtime.
The accident was said to have occurred when Orhan Civan, 35, who was driving the dolmuş towards Güzelyurt, hit the rear of a minibus. Those treated but later discharged from Girne State Hospital were Macreen, 74, and Michael Forster, 78, Buğse Şakir, 14, Hazae Muhammed Yarar, eight, Julia Korozine, 46, and Selçuk Yıldız, 35.
Meanwhile two drivers had lucky escapes when their cars were gutted by fire after collisions on Thursday.
Mehmet Şahin, 26, was at the wheel of a pick-up which went off the LefkoşaGüzelyurt road at 3.45am, slammed into an electricity pole and caught fire.
Injured Mr Şahin, who police said tested positive for alcohol, was taken to the capital's state hospital but his vehicle was destroyed within minutes.
The same fate befell 24year-old Yuled Kamacıoğlu’s car, despite efforts by police and bystanders to put out the flames, after she collided with 49-year-old Demgül Nalbant's car at 6pm, at the Pınarbaşı turning off the Boğazköy-Gönyeli road. Neither driver was hurt but part of the road was blocked for some time.