KIRIKKALE, Turkey - Forty people were injured late Friday when a passenger bus overturned into a roadside ditch in Turkey’s central Kirikkale province.
The bus was traveling from Bursa to Kars when the driver lost control on rain-slicked pavement and the vehicle veered off the road, overturning in a ditch. The accident occurred at night in a stretch where road construction work was underway, according to state media. Of the 42 people aboard - 39 of them passengers - 40 sustained injuries.
Emergency responders were dispatched to the scene following the alert. Crews administered first aid to the injured after extracting them from the bus, before transporting them by ambulance to hospitals in the city. The authorities said none of the injuries were reported as life-threatening.
Gendarmerie and police units secured the highway, and an investigation into the crash has been opened.
Kirikkale, an industrial province best known as home to Turkey's state weapons manufacturing complex, sits at a highway junction linking Ankara to destinations across northern and eastern Anatolia, making it a frequent transit point for long-haul intercity bus routes such as the Bursa-Kars service involved in Saturday's crash.
