Seventeen people, most of whom were illegal migrants, were killed late late Thursday when the minibus they were travelling in collided with a lamp post near an airport in the eastern province of Iğdır located on the border with Armenia and Iran. The collision also injured 36 people.
Local reports said the dead included nationals from Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. One report said nearly 50 people were traveling in a minibus that had a maximum capacity of 14. The Doğan news agency said two minibuses filled with illegal migrants were racing each other when one collided with the post and spilled most of the passengers onto the highway, where they were run over by the other minibus behind. The oil mixed with the diesel fuel and caused most of the casualties, one local official said.
The accident, which happened at 11:45 p.m. on Thursday, claimed the life of the Turkish driver and 16 of the passengers.
The Iğdır State Hospital's Head Surgeon Raşit İlhan said they didn't have a burns unit and had sent some of those who had serious burns to better equipped hospitals in neighboring provinces.
Meanwhile, officials caught 13 illegal migrants who are believed to have been in the crashed minibus. The driver of the other minibus was caught while trying to flee from the scene of the accident.
