14 confirmed dead in Turkish bus crash

A bus carrying 40 people left a road and plunged into a river today, killing at least 14 passengers and injuring 11 others. Sixteen more passengers were missing and feared dead.

The bus was submerged in the waters of the Kelkit River after the pre-dawn crash in the central Turkish province of Tokat, 200 miles east of Ankara, said local official Ferhat Kutoglu.

One passenger managed to free himself and walked to a nearby village for help, the Anatolia news agency reported. Ten other passengers climbed on top of the roof of the bus to wait for help, and rescuers pulled them to safety with ropes.

Rescue teams and divers later recovered the bodies of 14 of the passengers, most of them from inside the bus, but about 16 other passengers were missing.

Kutoglu said the missing had probably been swept away by the Kelkit’s strong currents and had probably drowned.

Two of the bodies were discovered near a bridge some 12 miles away from the scene of the crash, the agency reported. Kutoglu said rescuers were searching the river banks for bodies.

Authorities shut down the floodgates of a nearby dam to lower water levels at the river, helping recovery efforts.

The dead included at least two women and a child, Anatolia said.

The bus was travelling from Istanbul to the eastern city of Van, near the Iranian border.