Turkiye highway crash kills 11, injures 27 after tour bus hits truck

At least 11 people have been killed and 27 injured after a tour bus and a tow truck collided in western Turkiye.

The crash happened near toll booths at Akhisar on the Gebze-Orhangazi-Izmir highway in Manisa province on Sunday morning.

According to a statement from the Manisa governor’s office, authorities received a report of the collision just after 11am local time.

The wounded were taken to local hospitals, including the bus driver, who was detained by police following his discharge.

Images from the scene showed blue body bags lined along the roadside next to the overturned bus, which sustained heavy structural damage to its rear section.

The tow truck, which appeared to be carrying wooden planks, had also overturned.

Writing on social media platform X, Turkiye’s Interior Minister, Mustafa Ciftci, referred to the victims as citizens, though authorities have not yet confirmed whether any foreign nationals were among the casualties.

The governor of Manisa, Vahdettin Ozkan, visited the crash site as emergency teams cleared the wreckage.

“Work at the scene is currently ongoing under the coordination of the Public Prosecutor’s Office,” Ozkan said. “We are experiencing, in a painful way, just how vital it is to strictly adhere to traffic rules.”