April 14, 2007
Atleast 32 Killed in Turkish School Bus Crash
Ankara
At least 32 people were killed, most of them children, and another
30 wounded in Turkey Saturday when a coach loaded with day-tripping
students as well as teachers and parents crashed into a truck.
The bus was travelling in the tourist region of Cappadocia and was
near the central Turkish city of Aksaray when the accident occurred,
the Anadolu news agency reported the authorities as saying.
Television news images show the overturned coach lying across the
highway, children's backpacks strewn across the road surface.
Thirty injured were taken to hospitals in the region, provincial
governor Sebati Buyuran said.
The children, from an elementary school in the coastal city of
Izmir, had been on a trip to see the famous volcanic rock formations
and rock-carved churches at Cappadocia, among Turkey's most renowned
attractions.
Initial indications were that the overloading of the bus may have
been a contributory factor in the crash.
"There were way too many of us on the bus," said one injured
relative from hospital. "Three children had to share two seats. Why
aren't such school trips forbidden?"
State news agency Anadolu said some 10 people who were not
originally signed up for the trip were on the bus.
The cause of the accident on a straight section of road however was
not immediately clear. Among the dead were the driver of the truck
as well as one companion.
School authorities in Izmir said the bus had departed the city
Friday evening and was to reach its destination Saturday morning.
The accident occurred around 100 kilometres from the city of
Nevsehir, located in Cappadocia.
Meanwhile, there were tragic scenes at the school in Izmir as news
of the crash broke. Distraught parents gathered at the building with
some requiring medical attention as the full scale of the accident
became apparent.
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