Bus crash kills 20 in southwest Turkey tourist town
Seventeen people were killed and 13 injured when a bus carrying Turkish tourists crashed near the southwestern holiday town of Marmaris, a local governor said on Saturday.
Seventeen people were killed and 13 injured when a bus carrying Turkish tourists crashed near the southwestern holiday town of Marmaris, a local governor said on Saturday.
Television footage from the scene showed a yellow bus lying on its side surrounded by ambulances, with bodies nearby.
The governor of Mugla province, Amir Cicek, said the bus tipped over at a road bend as it was travelling from the coastal province of Izmir to the Marmaris tourist destination.
The serpentine road, on the side of a cliff, has been closed off to traffic, causing massive congestion.
Television reports showed that the bus landed on a lower section of the road, and Cicek told NTV television that an investigation was underway.
“The bus’s brakes may have malfunctioned,” he said.
The Hurriyet newspaper quoted Marmaris mayor Ali Acar as indicating an “error by the driver”, without giving further details.
Other media outlets reported that the bus left from the western city of Izmir carrying only women and children who were on a trip for Mothers’ Day, celebrated in Turkey on Sunday.
Marmaris is one of the country’s main resorts on the Mediterranean, and a popular weekend destination for many Turks as temperatures climb.