In eastern Türkiye, two separate chain collisions on the Van-Erciş highway due to fog and ice resulted in one death, four serious injuries and 51 people with minor injuries on Tuesday.
A large number of vehicles, including a truck, minibus, bus, van and cars, collided at around 7:30 a.m. local time near the rural Göllü neighborhood on the Van-Erciş highway. Following the accident caused by fog and ice, many health, police, gendarmerie, National Medical Rescue Team (UMKE), Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), and fire teams were dispatched to the scene.
Approximately 30 minutes later, around 8 a.m., a second chain collision occurred in the opposite direction, about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) away. In both chain accidents involving nearly 50 vehicles, Bedia Ertuğrul lost her life, while four people were seriously injured and 51 others sustained minor injuries. As a result, the highway was closed to traffic in both directions. The injured were rescued from the vehicles and taken to hospitals in Van by ambulances.
Van Governor Ozan Balcı, Police Chief Murat Mutlu and Provincial Gendarmerie Cmdr. Maj. Gen. Adem Şen arrived at the scene and were briefed by the authorities. Balcı stated that the accident was caused by black ice and fog.
Elsewhere, in Erzurum, 13 vehicles were involved in a chain-reaction crash due to heavy fog and icy roads. There were no fatalities or injuries in the incident.
The crash occurred in the morning at the Fire Department Junction in the Palandöken district. Due to the fog and icy conditions affecting the city for the past two days, three public buses, one minibus and nine cars collided with each other. The pileup resulted in damage to the vehicles but no casualties.
One of the people involved, Lokman Daştan, stated: “I was in the third vehicle to crash. The car behind hit us. After us, others kept crashing. The road is very slippery; you can’t even stand up.”
Teams from Erzurum Metropolitan Municipality carried out salting operations in the area. The road was closed to traffic for an extended period due to the accident. Several vehicles were removed with the help of two trucks.
Additionally, icy conditions caused accidents in various parts of the city. Teams continue salting the roads without interruption.