11 killed, 27 injured in bus-truck collision in western Türkiye — Pajhwok

KABUL (Pajhwok): At least 11 people have been killed and 27 others injured in a collision between a tour bus and a tow truck in western Türkiye, Al Jazeera reported. The accident occurred near toll booths at Akhisar on the Gebze-Orhangazi-Izmir highway in Manisa province on Sunday morning. According to a statement from the Manisa governor’s office, authorities received a report of the collision shortly after 11am local time. The injured were taken to local hospitals for treatment. The bus driver was detained by police after being discharged from hospital. Images from the scene showed blue body bags lined up along the roadside beside the overturned bus, which sustained heavy structural damage to its rear section. The tow truck, which appeared to be carrying wooden planks, had also overturned. Türkiye’s Interior Minister, Mustafa Ciftci, referred to the victims as citizens in a post on the social media platform X. However, authorities have not yet confirmed whether any foreign nationals were among the casualties. Manisa Governor Vahdettin Ozkan visited the crash site as emergency teams cleared the wreckage. “Work at the scene is currently ongoing under the coordination of the Public Prosecutor’s Office,” Ozkan said. “We are experiencing, in a painful way, just how vital it is to strictly adhere to traffic rules.”