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Agence France-Presse

Twenty-four people were killed and hundreds injured when a train packed with weekend passengers derailed in northwest Turkey due to ground erosion after heavy rains, officials said Monday.
The train, with 362 people on board, was travelling from the Edirne region on the Greek and Bulgarian borders to Istanbul’s Halkali station on Sunday when six carriages derailed in the Tekirdag region.
Deputy Prime Minister Recep Akdag said 24 people died, in a sharp rise from the previous toll of 10.
The state-run Anadolu news agency quoted Akdag as saying search operations through the derailed train carriages had been completed Monday morning.
Turkish media quoted Health Minister Ahmet Demircan as saying 338 people required hospital treatment after the accident with 124 still hospitalised.
The transport ministry said that the train derailed as recent heavy downpours caused the ground beneath the track to erode.
Transport Minister Ahmet Arslan said that the latest checks on the rails had been made in April, Anadolu reported.
Turkish media, including the Hurriyet daily, published pictures showing the erosion had been so bad that part of the track had been hanging in the air with no ground left to support it.


Television pictures showed several train carriages sprawled on their sides, and shocked injured passengers being taken away on stretchers as rescuers picked through the wreckage.
The train derailed outside the village of Sarilar in the Corlu district of Tekirdag.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his condolences over those who lost their lives in the accident that he said has “deeply upset the whole nation”.
The accident, one of Turkey’s worst train disasters of recent years, threatens to cast a shadow over a lavish ceremony scheduled in Ankara later Monday to mark the inauguration of Erdogan for a new presidential mandate and the transition to a new system of government.
Erdogan said all state institutions were “using every means available to help”, vowing that there would be a comprehensive investigation into the “tragic accident”, the presidency said.
Turkey’s audiovisual authority RTUK later said the government had issued a temporary ban on broadcasting images from the scene. This was lifted on Monday morning.
Turkish authorities under Erdogan have over the last years sought to modernise Turkey’s once ramshackle rail network, building several high speed intercity lines.
Turkish passengers have in general preferred taking planes or buses for intercity travel but this has been changing with the new high-speed lines.
The train involved in the accident appeared to be one of the slower passenger trains travelling on a single track line.
Turkey’s rail network has been hit by several fatal accidents in recent years.
In January 2008, nine people were killed when a train derailed in the Kutahya region south of Istanbul due to faulty tracks.
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.


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24 dead, hundreds hurt, as erosion under track triggers train derailment in Turkey

An injured passenger awaits help in the immediate aftermath of a train derailment in Turkey’s Tekirdag region on Sunday. Photo: Agence France-Presse

People and rescuers carry an injured woman after a train accident at Corlu district in Tekirdag, on July 8, 2018. Ten people were killed and 73 injured on July 8 when a train packed with weekend passengers derailed in northwest Turkey, sate-run TRT Haber television said, quoting the health ministry. / AFP PHOTO / DHA / DHA / Turkey OUT

Rescue workers and paramedics work at the site of a train derailment near Corlu in Tekirdag province, Turkey, July 9, 2018. REUTERS/Osman Orsal

epa06874256 Members of the emergency services assist wounded people during a train accident in Tekirdag, Turkey, 08 July 2018. According to the Turkish Health Ministry, ten people died and 72 wounded in a train derailment accident west of the country. Turkish media reports that the train bound for Istanbul with over 300 passengers departed from Edirne, on the border with Greece. EPA-EFE/MEHMET YIRUN

epaselect epa06874255 A man raises his hand to be rescued, during a train accident in Tekirdag, Turkey, 08 July 2018. According to the Turkish Health Ministry, ten people died and 72 wounded in a train derailment accident west of the country. Turkish media reports that the train bound for Istanbul with over 300 passengers departed from Edirne, on the border with Greece. EPA-EFE/MEHMET YIRUN

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The erosion was so bad that part of the track was hanging in the air with no ground left to support it
