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Thursday, December 13, 2018, 22:55
9 dead, dozens injured after train crashes into overpass in Ankara
By Associated Press
Thursday, December 13, 2018, 22:55 By Associated Press

This image grab made from video shows the aftermath of a high-speed train crash at a station in Ankara, Turkey, Dec 13, 2018. The train hit a railway engine and crashed into a pedestrian overpass at the station on Dec 13. (PHOTO / DHA VIA AP)

ANKARA - A high-speed train hit a railway engine and crashed into a pedestrian overpass at a station in the Turkish capital Ankara on Thursday, killing nine people and injuring dozens others, officials said. 

The 6:30 am (0330 GMT) train from Ankara to the central Turkish city of Konya collided head-on with the engine, which was checking the tracks at the capital's small Marsandiz station, Transport Minister Mehmet Cahit Turhan told reporters after inspecting the site. The high-speed train transits that station without stopping.

This AFP graphic shows a map locating Ankara, where a deadly train crash happened on Dec 13, 2018.

At least two cars derailed, hitting the station's overpass which then collapsed onto the train.

Three engine drivers and six passengers were killed in the crash, Turhan said. One of the passengers died of injuries after being hospitalized while others were killed at the scene.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said 84 other people had sought medical help after the crash.

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Members of rescue services work at the scene of a train accident in Ankara, Turkey, Dec 13, 2018. (BURHAN OZBILICI / AP)

Television footage showed emergency services working to rescue passengers from wrangled cars and debris. Hurriyet newspaper said sniffer dogs assisted efforts to find survivors.

Turhan said everyone had been removed from the debris and no one else was believed to be trapped.

It was not immediately clear if a signaling problem caused the accident. Authorities detained three state railway employees over suspected negligence and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed a thorough investigation.

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Passenger Ayse Ozyurt told the IHA news agency that the accident occurred 12 minutes after the train left the main station and that it had not yet gained its maximum speed.

"The train was not fast at that time yet," she said. "Suddenly, there was a frightening breakage ... and the train was off the rail."

Konya, about 260 kilometers south of Ankara, is home to the tomb of the Sufi mystic and poet Jalaladdin Rumi, attracting thousands of pilgrims and tourists. The crash occurred during an annual week of remembrance for Rumi, when many travel to Konya to watch Whirling Dervishes, members of a Sufi sect, perform.

Turkey has had a raft of train crashes this year.

Members of rescue services work at the scene of a train accident in Ankara, Turkey, Dec 13, 2018. (BURHAN OZBILICI / AP)

In July, 24 people were killed and more than 70 injured when most of a passenger train derailed in northwestern Turkey after torrential rains caused a section of the tracks to collapse. 

Last month, 15 people were injured when a passenger train collided with a freight train in Turkey's central province of Sivas.

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