41 killed, 299 injured in traffic accidents across Turkey since start of Eid al-Adha

ISTANBUL

Some 41 people lost their lives and 290 were injured in road accidents across Turkey in the first five days of the extended 10-day-long Eid al–Adha (Feast of Sacrifice) holiday, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Aug. 30. 

On the fifth day of the holiday alone, Aug. 30, some 12 people were killed and 78 were injured in accidents across the country, the agency stated. 

In an accident in the Central Anatolian province of Konya’s Seydişehir district, two were injured after two cars collided head-on, while in the southeastern province of Batman’s Gercüş district one person was wounded after a car tipped over. 

In the province of Bilecik, driver Yakup Vural lost his life after his car tumbled into a stream bed. Also in Bilecik, three people from the same family died and two were wounded after their vehicle tumbled into in a water-trench. 

The holiday death toll rose to 12 with accidents in other provinces, when a pedestrian was hit by a vehicle while trying to cross the road, another vehicle crashed into a ditch, an articulated lorry hit a bus, and two cars collided head-on. 

In a first this year, the Interior Ministry has been sending warnings to drivers via a text message to their mobile phones when they stop on roads that are particularly prone to accidents. The message reads: “You are on a road where a high number of fatal accidents occur on holidays. Please abide by the rules. Do not exceed the speed limit. Fasten all seatbelts. Eid Mubarak.”

The ministry has also used Twitter to warn drivers, especially of heavy vehicles and buses, about road accidents.