Tragic Highway Crash in Western Turkiye Leaves 11 Dead and 27 Injured After Tour Bus Hits Truck

A devastating collision between a tour bus and a tow truck in western Turkiye has left at least 11 people dead and 27 others injured.

The tragic accident occurred on Sunday morning near the toll booths at Akhisar on the Gebze-Orhangazi-Izmir highway, located within Manisa province.

According to an official statement released by the Manisa governor’s office, emergency authorities were alerted to the collision shortly after 11am local time.

The injured individuals, which included the bus driver, were promptly transported to nearby hospitals for medical treatment. Following his discharge from the hospital, the bus driver was taken into custody by police.

Photographs from the accident site revealed harrowing scenes, with blue body bags placed along the roadside near the heavily damaged, overturned tour bus. The tow truck, which appeared to be loaded with wooden planks, was also flipped onto its side.

Turkiye’s Interior Minister, Mustafa Ciftci, took to the social media platform X to address the incident, describing the victims as citizens, though officials have not yet clarified if any foreign nationals were among those killed or injured.

Vahdettin Ozkan, the governor of Manisa, personally inspected the crash site as rescue workers and emergency teams labored to clear the debris.

“Work at the scene is currently ongoing under the coordination of the Public Prosecutor’s Office,” Ozkan stated during his visit. “We are experiencing, in a painful way, just how vital it is to strictly adhere to traffic rules.”