Ten people were killed and six others were injured in two traffic accidents in the western Turkish province of Balıkesir and the central province of Konya, on Monday and late Sunday, respectively.
In Konya, a car crashed into another in the opposite lane at around 6 p.m. local time when the driver lost control of the vehicle. Five people in the car that was crashed into were killed while four people in the two cars involved in the accident were injured. The victims were a young group of friends who were returning home after spending the weekend swimming in Lake Beyşehir. Two among them were sisters.
A similar accident occurred in Balıkesir early on Monday and claimed five lives. A car traveling along a highway in the province from the direction of Istanbul toward western Turkey's Izmir collided with another. Two children were among the casualties while two others were injured. Firefighters, paramedics and police struggled to remove people stuck in the mangled wreckage of cars after the accident. All victims died immediately. Balıkesir Governor Hasan Şıldak told reporters that an investigation was underway into the cause of the accident, which “occurred when a car rear-ended the other.”
Every year, thousands of people die in traffic accidents across Turkey, despite efforts to raise awareness against the so-called "traffic monster" in the country and heightened inspections of abidance to road safety rules.
