A pre-dawn highway collision in southern Turkey on Saturday turned fatal, claiming at least seven lives and leaving eleven others injured. The tragic accident involved an intercity passenger bus and a stationary articulated lorry.
The Scene of the Tragic Collision
The crash occurred on the motorway connecting the cities of Adana and Gaziantep. According to reports from the local governor's office in Osmaniye, the accident happened before daybreak. The bus rammed into the rear of a heavy goods vehicle that had come to a halt on the road. Initial information from the state-run Anadolu Agency indicated the lorry had stopped after suffering a tyre burst.
Severe Impact and Immediate Aftermath
Visual evidence from the site painted a grim picture of the collision's force. The front right section of the bus was completely crushed from the impact with the lorry's back. The location was pinpointed approximately 90 kilometres west of the major city of Gaziantep.
Authorities confirmed that all the casualties were passengers traveling on the bus. Rescue teams worked swiftly at the scene. Efforts to formally identify the victims were ongoing in the aftermath of the disaster. In a turn of fate, the driver of the lorry survived the incident and was taken into police custody as part of the standard procedural investigation.
Highway Closure and Ongoing Probe
The major highway was temporarily shut down to facilitate emergency rescue operations and to allow investigators to examine the crash site thoroughly. The closure underscored the severity of the incident and the priority given to the response. As reported by AFP, the focus now remains on understanding the precise sequence of events that led to this devastating loss of life on a key Turkish transport route.
