At least nine persons have been reported dead and nearly fifty injured in Turkey as a speed train collided with a locomotive and crashed into a station platform and overpass in an Ankara suburb today Thursday.
Rescuers worked to free people trapped under the mangled wreckage at Marsandiz train station, about 5 miles from central Ankara. It was not clear at which speed the train and locomotive were traveling when the collision occurred.
According to reports, the train had been heading from Ankara to the central Turkish province of Konya and was not due to stop at Marsandiz.
Three train drivers were among the nine killed in the crash, Transport Minister Cahit Turhan told reporters on the scene.
There were 206 passengers on the high speed train, according to the state-owned news agency, which also reported that the Ankara state prosecutor’s office had launched an investigation.
Turkey has been developing a network of high-speed rail links during Tayyip Erdogan’s 16-year-old rule as it looks to ease the burden on increasingly congested highways.
