Six dead in Turkey train collision

Rescuers carry an injured man after two passenger trains collided head on near the village of Tavsancil in Kocaeli province in northwestern Turkey on Wednesday, killing six people, and injuring some dozens, officials said. The accident comes just weeks after a newly inaugurated high-speed train from Istanbul to Ankara derailed, killing 38 people. PHOTO: AP

A passenger train in northwest Turkey ignored a stop signal and rammed into an oncoming train Wednesday, killing six people and injuring 85 others, officials said, in the nation's third deadly rail accident in as many weeks.

Rescue in blue and orange jumpsuits climbed through the wreckage near the village of Tavsancil in Kocaeli province, some 80km east of Istanbul, to recover trapped and smashed bodies. They threw mangled pieces of metal out the shattered windows and used axes and torches to cut through the wreckage.

The prime minister's office announced that six people were killed in the accident and 85 people were injured.

Earlier semiofficial Anatolia news agency, quoting prosecutor Veysel Eroglu, who is investigating the accident, reported that nine people were killed in the crash. But the agency later reported the death toll at six. There was no explanation for the discrepancy.

A few bodies were still believed to be trapped inside the wreckage.

Armed troops were guarding the site.

By rescue operations had largely ended and emergency crews were using flashlights to search inside the wreckage for any bodies.

The accident occurred after a train traveling from Ankara to Istanbul ignored a signal and failed to stop at a junction, Cemal Yaman, an official of a local branch of the train workers' union told the Anatolia news agency. The train was carrying 153 passengers and nine crew members.

Deputy Minister Abdullah Gul said, "One of the trains passed a red light. When the [engineer] noticed he tried to reduce speed but unfortunately the accident occurred."

However, conductor Hasan Yucedag told Anatolia from his hospital bed that "the light was green for us. It suddenly turned red as we were about to cross."

Yucedag suffered a broken arm.

The other train was traveling from Istanbul to Adapazari in northwestern Turkey, officials said.

The Prime Minister's Crisis Center said 85 people were injured. Most of the injured were released from hospital by nightfall.

Mahmut Yanmis, who survived the accident, told CNN-Turk television the collision occurred after his train left Tavsancil station.

"I made my way through a broken window," said Yanmis, who had stitches on his head and scratches on his arms. "When I went out of the car, I saw the decapitated body of a conductor trapped at the gate of the locomotive.

"I saw the passenger sitting next to me dead. Body pieces were scattered everywhere."

At the crash site, a middle-aged man screamed, "My God! My God! Ismail! Ismail!" in apparent reference to a victim.

Several or friends sat on the bumper of an ambulance, waiting for news. One man sat with his head between his hands, crying.