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| Europe |
| Turkish train disaster kills nearly 140 |
| 2004-07-23 |
| A high-speed train from Istanbul to Ankara has derailed, killing 139 people, the crisis centre in Ankara has said. Health Ministry undersecretary Nejdet Unuvar said that 57 people were also injured when the express train packed with passengers derailed in northwestern Turkey on Thursday. "I hope the death toll will not rise further," he added. The earlier toll stood at 128 killed and 57 injured. There were 234 passengers and nine crew aboard the train when it derailed due to a yet unknown reason near Pamukova town in Sakarya province while on its way from Istanbul to capital Ankara. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he had cancelled a trip to Bosnia-Hercegovina, scheduled for Friday, following the deadly train accident. Islamist sabotage or typical Mid-East incompetence. |
| Posted by:Zenster |
| #6 While my opening post may have come across as somewhat heartless, I feel that Turkey has serious problems with their civil engineering standards. Witness the routine and massive loss of life that results from intermediate level earthquakes. Apartment blocks and commercial buildings alike pancake and collapse like a house of cards. Substandard materials and insufficient reinforcement are commonly found to be responsible. Building code enforcement and contractor licensing are subject to the vagaries of a corrupt government. Bribery and graft still rule the day and continue to exact innocent blood as their toll. #2 You don't need terrorists or Mid-East incompetence for train wrecks. They happen in Germany, the U.S. and everywhere - even Japan. John, try to remember that their high speed train derailed on its maiden excursion. That is something that most definitely does not happen in "Germany, the U.S. and everywhere - even Japan." My heart goes out to those Turkish families who lost loved ones. Turkey has a long way to go before it can claim to be a modern industrial country and their corrupt government is largely to blame for it not being one already. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-07-23 9:41:42 PM |
| #5 Damn this is pretty simple stuff, someone get paid off for the okay to roll? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-07-23 11:31:30 AM |
| #4 ABCNEWS: Critics lashed out at the government Friday for ignoring warnings that old train tracks were not designed to handle a new express train that derailed in northwestern Turkey, killing 36 people and injuring 81 others in one of the country's worst rail disasters. The cause of the derailment was unclear, but government officials ruled out sabotage. The disaster was a major embarrassment for the government, which dismissed concerns raised about the high-speed train before service was inaugurated last month. Engineers came forward after Thursday's accident saying they had warned the government numerous times that the old tracks along the Istanbul-Ankara line could not handle the new high-speed cars. Union leaders, opposition politicians and newspapers also said the government neglected warnings its showcase train was too fast for Turkey's antiquated railroad tracks. Experts had called on the government to modernize the rail infrastructure before allowing the trains to travel. Aydin Erel, professor of engineering at Istanbul's Yildiz Technical University, said he warned the government as recently as July 14 that the tracks were not up to standard. "Our infrastructure was not suitable for such speed," Erel said. "Our warnings were ignored." The crash marked a setback for Turkey's efforts to modernize its outdated rail services and for the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who launched the high-speed line. Erdogan canceled a trip to Bosnia and traveled to the disaster area by helicopter, where he faced angry survivors. "Prime minister hear me! My husband is dead, he should never have ridden on that train!" a woman at a hospital shouted at Erdogan Somebody is gonna lose their job over this one, most likely Transportation Minister. It'll hurt the PM as well. |
| Posted by: Steve 2004-07-23 10:27:41 AM |
| #3 This was a new train. The locomotive and cars were new, the track was new. It derailed only a few miles from where it began. |
| Posted by: mhw 2004-07-23 9:39:10 AM |
| #2 36 is still pretty bad. You don't need terrorists or Mid-East incompetence for train wrecks. They happen in Germany, the U.S. and everywhere - even Japan. Condolences to the victims and their families - I hope that Murat's family was untouched. |
| Posted by: John in Tokyo 2004-07-23 3:52:37 AM |
| #1 More recent count put the casualties to only 36: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3918473.stm |
| Posted by: Aris Katsaris 2004-07-23 12:23:04 AM |