Turnkey train derailment: At least 10 people have been killed and 73 injured in a train accident

AT least 10 people are dead and 73 injured after a train en route to Istanbul derailed near the Bulgarian border.

At least 10 people were killed and more than 70 injured Sunday when multiple cars of a train derailed in western Turkey, a Turkish official said. Picture: Mehmet Yirun/DHA-Depo Photos/AP

A TRAIN packed with 360 weekend passengers derailed in northwest Turkey on Sunday, leaving an at least 10 people dead and many injured, local officials said.

“There are a large number of injured and we have fatalities,” Tekirdag governor Mehmet Ceylan told the NTV channel, without giving a firm figure.

Ten people were killed and 73 injured on July 8 when a train packed with weekend passengers derailed in northwest Turkey. Picture: AFP Photo

“The accident happened because of adverse weather conditions,” he added.

The train was travelling from Kapikule on the Bulgarian border to Istanbul, when six of its carriages derailed reports said.

The health ministry estimates that at least people have been killed and 73 injured in the accident.

Ten people were killed and 73 injured on July 8 when a train packed with weekend passengers derailed in northwest Turkey. Picture: AFP Photo

Over 100 ambulances have been sent to the scene, authorities said.

The Turkish prime ministry says “there are citizens who have been injured and who have lost their lives.”

Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency quoted the governor of Tekirdag province saying the area where the derailment happened was muddy from heavy rain.

A woman reacts after a train accident in western Turkey in which ten people were killed and 73 injured. Picture: AFP Photo/DHA

A photograph of the site showed collapsed ground under the rails.

Reports said the surrounding area was muddy due to recent rains and the ground beneath the rails may have subsided away, causing the train to derail.

The train derailed outside the village of Sarilar in the Corlu district of Tekirdag, reports said.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been informed over the accident and expressed his condolences over those who lost their lives, state-run Anadolu news agency said.

Turkish authorities under Erdogan have over the last years sought to modernise Turkey’s once ramshackle rail network, building several high speed inter-city lines.

Turkish passengers have in general preferred taking planes or the bus for inter-city travel but this is changing with the new high-speed lines.

Emergency services rescue victims from overturned train cars near a village in Turkey where at least 10 people were killed and 73 injured. Picture: Mehmet Yirun/DHA-Depo/AP

The train involved in the accident appeared to be one of the slower passenger trains travelling on a single track railway.

Turkey’s rail network has been hit by several fatal accidents over the last years.

In January 2008, nine people were killed when a train derailed in the Kutahya region south of Istanbul due to faulty rails.

And in Turkey’s worst recent rail disaster, 41 people were killed and 80 injured in July 2004 when a high-speed train derailed in the northwestern province of Sakarya.