22 migrants die in truck crash, 13 others injured in Turkey

According to the reports, the truck's passengers were foreign migrants who had reached a deal with traffickers to be transported by boat to the Greek island of Samos south of Izmir
Sunday, 14 October 2018 18:32

Twenty-two people, including children, were killed when a truck carrying migrants crashed in the western Turkish province of Izmir on Sunday, the state-owned Anadolu news agency reported.

Anadolu said the migrants were travelling in the truck that rolled over off a bridge. Video footage showed a destroyed truck, tipped upside down in a waterway with personal items scattered all around.

Thirteen people were injured in the crash and were being treated in nearby hospitals.

The nationality of the migrants was not made clear. 

According to the private Demirören news agency (DHA), the truck's passengers were foreign migrants who had reached a deal with traffickers to be transported by boat to the Greek island of Samos south of Izmir.

Nine of those injured were children, DHA said.

Hundreds of thousands of migrants have set out to sea from Turkey's coasts in the last few years to try to reach neighboring Greece, which is a member of the European Union. A deal with the EU in 2016 to send those migrants back to Turkey significantly curbed the number of border crossings but many desperate migrants still attempt the journey.