A bus carrying Russian tourists tumbled off a bridge in southern Turkey on Tuesday, killing at least 16 people and injuring 25 others.
The bus, en route from Antalya to Pamukkale, flew off the 15-meter-high bridge at about 6 a.m. while it was still dark and landed on its roof, Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu said.
The dead included 14 Russians, their Turkish tour guide and the Turkish driver of the bus.
A probe was opened into the crash. The driver may have fallen asleep, NTV television reported, citing local authorities.
But Pegas Touristik, the Moscow-based travel company that organized the tour, said the driver could have had a heart attack.
Another possibility is that the police mishandled traffic on the bridge after an accident on a nearby bridge diverted traffic to the road where the bus crash occurred. “It is quite possible that the traffic was badly regulated with no warning signs installed there,” a source in the Turkish travel industry told The Moscow Times.
There were 39 Russian tourists on the bus, Russian Tourism Union CEO Maya Lomidze told Interfax. At least four children lost both parents in the crash, she said.
Twenty-five injured Russians were rushed to eight local hospitals. A list of those injured and killed in the crash was posted online, at www.antalyahotline.tr.com.tr.
“We woke up as the bus flipped over,” said one of the injured passengers, Lena Rasuleva, the Anatolia news agency reported. “I fell unconscious and opened my eyes in the hospital.”
Rasuleva’s young daughter, Diana, was also hospitalized, Anatolia reported.
Turkey was the No. 1 tourist destination for Russians last year, attracting more than 2 million people, according to the Russian Association of Travel Agencies.
Earlier this month, Turkey and Russia agreed to drop visa requirements for visits of up to 30 days in an effort to boost tourism and business.