Ten killed as Turkish train derails after heavy rain

By Ece Toksabay

 

A derailed train is seen near Corlu in Tekirdag province, Turkey, July 8, 2018. Dogan News Agency via REUTERS

 

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Ten people were killed and 73 wounded when a train came off the rails in northwest Turkey on Sunday after heavy rain and a landslide, Turkish television channels quoted a health ministry official as saying.

 

The train was carrying 362 passengers and was headed to Istanbul when five carriages came off the tracks, the transport ministry said in a statement.

 

Television images showed several wagons laying on their side and emergency personnel walking to reach the crash site.

 

One survivor, walking along the rail track away from the accident site, told CNN Turk television that he had seen many more than 10 bodies.

 

A statement from the prime minister's office said a suburban train suffered an accident after a landslide. "Unfortunately we have fatalities and casualties," it said.

 

The local governor in Tekirdag, about 120 km (75 miles) west of Istanbul, blamed heavy rain for the derailment.

 

"Our helicopter ambulances have reached the site. Many of those injured have been taken off the site," Mehmet Ceylan said.

 

President Tayyip Erdogan's office said he had received information from the ministers of transport and interior about the incident, and sent condolences for those killed.

 

(Editing by Keith Weir and David Evans)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-07-09

Looks like a failure to shore up the track by having a decent embankment at the side of the track. To blame heavy rain for design and maintenance failures is a bit of a cop-out.