At least 11 people were killed and 27 others injured on Sunday, October 11, when a tour bus collided with a truck on a major motorway in Manisa province in western Türkiye, according to officials.
The crash happened at around 11 a.m. local time near the Akhisar toll booths on the Gebze-Orhangazi-Izmir Highway, one of the country's main north-south routes linking the Marmara region with the Aegean coast. According to a statement from the Manisa Governor's Office, the bus was travelling from the city of Bursa towards Izmir when it struck the truck.
Casualties and emergency response
Health Minister Kemal Memişoğlu said 27 people had been taken to hospital. Of those, one was in critical condition, 18 were in a moderate condition and eight were described as being in good health. Officials described the death toll of 11 as a minimum figure.
Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi said teams from the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), police, gendarmerie, fire services and emergency medical crews had been sent to the scene, and that the government was following the response closely with the relevant institutions.
Manisa Governor Vahdettin Özkan visited the site and was briefed by officials on the rescue effort. He said the various teams had worked together to reach those affected and help the injured.
Investigation under way
The chief public prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into the collision. According to media reports, the driver of the bus was arrested following the crash. Officials have not publicly announced a cause.
Özkan used the occasion to urge motorists to obey traffic rules, describing the accident as a tragic reminder of how much those rules can save lives.
Road safety remains a persistent concern in Türkiye, where long-distance coach travel is a common way to move between cities and where intercity highways carry heavy volumes of buses and freight trucks. Serious multi-fatality crashes involving coaches regularly prompt calls from officials for stricter compliance with speed limits and rest rules for professional drivers.
The Gebze-Orhangazi-Izmir motorway, which opened in stages over the last decade, shortened travel times between Istanbul and Izmir considerably and is heavily used by tour operators and logistics companies.
Sources
Photo: Barisgezici / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
