Ankara, Dec 6 (NationPress) A tragic incident occurred on Saturday in Turkey's southeastern Osmaniye province, resulting in the deaths of seven individuals and leaving 11 others injured. According to the semi-official Anadolu Agency, a passenger bus collided with a stationary truck on a major highway.

The crash took place near the Bahce district when the truck, which had suffered a flat tire, was halted on the roadside. The roadway was reported to be closed to traffic at the time of the accident.

The driver of the truck has been detained as rescue teams work to extricate the vehicles involved. An investigation into the cause of the collision is currently underway.

The Osmaniye governor's office has announced that efforts to identify the victims are ongoing.

In a related incident in July, four fatalities and 33 injuries were reported when a passenger bus crashed into a mountainside in the Imranli district of central Sivas province.

The bus was en route from eastern Agri province to western Izmir province when it collided with a mountainside near Kuzkoy village on the Sivas-Erzincan highway on July 20, according to Xinhua news agency.

Road accidents are prevalent in Turkey, with traffic incidents claiming 2,713 lives across the country in 2024, as reported by the General Directorate of Security. Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir were noted to have the highest number of accidents, with Istanbul alone documenting 97,354 incidents.

In October 2024, a separate incident resulted in the deaths of seven individuals and injuries to 33 others when a passenger bus overturned in central Aksaray province.

Aksaray Provincial Governor Mehmet Ali Kumbuzoglu informed reporters that the tourist bus overturned approximately 25 km from Aksaray city.

In 2023, official statistics revealed 6,548 deaths and 350,855 injuries due to road accidents, averaging around 18 deaths and 961 injuries per day.

Last year, speeding was identified as the primary cause of fatal accidents in Turkey.