15 Die as Turkish Train Collides With Minibus

A passenger train slammed into a minibus rushing to cross its tracks Sunday in western Turkey, killing 15 people and injuring four, just days after the deadly derailment of a Turkish express train.

The minibus -- carrying 19 people returning from a wedding party -- was trying to cross before the barriers came down, a railroad official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. No injuries were reported among the train’s 200 passengers.

The crash further highlighted concerns about the safety of the country’s aging railways after the derailment Thursday of a new high-speed train about halfway through its trip from Istanbul to Ankara, the capital. The crash killed 37 people.

Officials reported other rail accidents over the weekend. A 15-year-old boy was killed Sunday when he fell from a train traveling with its doors open in an Istanbul suburb. Four cars in a 25-car freight train derailed in southern Adana province Saturday; no one was hurt.

German railroad experts were examining the wreckage from Thursday’s derailment at the request of Turkish officials eager to quell criticism that the government had backed a dangerous high-speed rail project despite known risks.

Turkish officials would be available to answer questions but would not interfere with the German team’s investigations, rail authority deputy chief Erol Inal said, according to the Anatolia news agency.

Experts from other countries have been invited to help in the investigation, but it is not known when they will arrive.

The crew chief of the high-speed passenger train, Koksal Coskun, and two engineers, Fikret Karabulut and Recep Sonmez, were arrested late Friday and reportedly would face charges of negligence.

The chief prosecutor for the area, Mithat Kutanoglu, said railroad authorities might be detained as part of the widening inquiry.

“The investigation may not be limited to the engineers,” the Radikal newspaper quoted Kutanoglu as saying. “It could reach authorities.”

The minibus was hit when it crossed onto the tracks linking the western region of Aydin to the Aegean port city of Izmir, provincial Mayor Ilhami Ortekin told private NTV television.

He said the minibus was dragged about 875 yards along the tracks.

The four injured were in critical condition, he said.