Turkish death toll reduced to 36 without explanation

A new high-speed passenger train derailed today in north-western Turkey, and officials said 36 people were killed.

The government crisis centre and Health Ministry previously had reported between 128 and 139 people were killed, but lowered the death toll late today without giving any official explanation.

The Transportation Ministry also gave a death toll of 36.

“A mistake was made in the death and injury toll because of the contradictory information that reached us,” said Ayhan Cevik, mayor of the nearby town of Bilecik.

“According to the latest information we have, 36 people were killed in the accident and 60 were injured.”

At least four train cars overturned near the small, rural village of Mekece in Sakarya province, with most of the damage in two cars that crashed into each other.

Bodies lay near the tracks as people climbed on the overturned cars looking for survivors. Darkness was hampering rescue operations, with soldiers searching the wreckage and treating the injured by flashlight.

It was not immediately known what caused the derailment of the train, a fast connection from Istanbul to the capital, Ankara.

There was controversy when the line started operating June 4, with critics saying the tracks were old and could not handle the new trains.

Still, authorities said they were not ruling out sabotage.

“We are assessing every possibility,” said Muammer Turker, heading the crisis centre in Sakarya. He said the train was carrying 234 passengers and nine personnel.

When it derailed, the train would have been travelling at a normal speed, because the tracks near Mekece were not geared to carry high-speed cars, state railway authority deputy head Ali Kemal Ergulec said.

It was not immediately known how fast the train was going when it derailed (113 miles away from Istanbul, about midway to Ankara.

“The train was a little fast going around the curves, Namik Kemal Ozden, said lying in his hospital bed, his face bandaged.

“There were vibrations. My cousin was sitting next to me, we hugged each other. The windows broke and we fell to one side. We could only understand what happened once we got out.”

At the scene, rescue workers were combing through the debris, looking for survivors.

Paramilitary soldiers were carrying luggage from the debris and piling it on the side of the road.

Most of the white train cars with red trim were lying on their sides. Windows were shattered.

“There were bodies lying all over the place,” said Hikmet Feridun Turan, the mayor of nearby Pamukova and one of the first people to reach the site.

“Body pieces. Heads lying on the ground. I don’t want anyone to ever see anything like that,” he said.

The crash occurred at 7:45 p.m. (0445 GMT) and by midnight, most of the rescue efforts were winding down.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan cancelled a trip to Bosnia scheduled for tomorrow and travelled to the area by helicopter.

He said authorities would likely make an announcement on the cause of the crash on Friday.

Oguz Dizer, a journalist travelling in the area, told NTV television that soldiers were on the scene to help the injured. He said he saw several bodies lying near the tracks.

“The scene is one of carnage,” Dizer said. “There are people lying all over the place.”

Suleyman Karaman, the head of Turkey’s railway authority, said a team had been sent to the area to try and determine the cause of the crash.

He quoted the train’s conductor as saying the train was travelling at normal speed and that he “could not understand what had gone wrong.”

Commenting on the train crash in North Western Turkey Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell said: “I would like to express my sympathies for the terrible loss of life this evening.”

“We send our condolences to the families of all those who have died. Consular staff have immediately gone to the scene. So far we have no reports of British casualties.”, he added.