Nineteen Killed As Migrant Vehicle Crashes In Turkey

Turkish police forensic experts examine the wreckage of a truck, carrying migrants, after it crashed in Izmir, Turkey October 14, 2018. Photo Credit: Reuters

Nineteen people, including children, died on Sunday when a vehicle carrying migrants reportedly heading for EU member Greece plunged off the highway into a waterway in western Turkey, state media said.

The vehicle was travelling on a highway in the Izmir region near Izmir airport when it flipped over and fell into the channel several metres below, state-run Anadolu news agency said.

The nationality of the migrants are yet to be known.

Turkish television pictures showed the stricken wreckage of the vehicle, which was reduced to burned-out metal by the impact of the crash.

Large numbers of emergency service personnel were sent to the scene.

The DHA news agency said that the vehicle was headed for the coast of the Izmir region, from where the migrants planned to take a boat to Greece’s Samos island.

Samos is just a few kilometres north of Turkey’s Dilek peninsula that juts out from the Izmir region.

Turkey is a key transit point for migrants from troubled countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa seeking a new life in Europe.





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