At least 10 people killed as multiple train cars derail in Turkish village

AT LEAST 10 people have been killed and more than 70 injured when multiple cars of a train derailed in western Turkey.

Health Ministry undersecretary Eyup Gumus put the number of fatalities at 10 and the people injured at 73 based on initial reports from the scene, according to Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency.

Turkish media reported that the train left Edirne, on the border with Greece, bound for Istanbul with 360 passengers.

The train derailed in a village in Tekirdag province. An unnamed survivor told the private DHA news agency she was travelling in one of the derailed cars when it went off the tracks. “There were deaths immediately, people whose legs were crushed. It was a horrible accident,” DHA quoted her as saying. A photograph of the site showed collapsed ground under the rails.

Video footage captured overturned cars and several people being carried away on stretchers.

Tekirdag governor Mehmet Ceyhan said the area was muddy from heavy rain and difficult to reach. Emergency services and military helicopters were last night at the scene.