Trains collide in Turkey

TAVSANCIL, Turkey - A passenger train in northwest Turkey ignored a stop signal and rammed into an oncoming train Wednesday, killing six people and injuring 85, officials said, in the nation's third deadly rail accident in as many weeks.

Rescue workers in blue and orange jumpsuits climbed through the wreckage near the village of Tavsancil in Kocaeli province, some 50 miles east of Istanbul, searching for more victims.

They threw mangled pieces of metal out the shattered windows and used axes and torches to cut through the wreckage.

Armed troops were guarding the site.

By nightfall, rescue operations had largely ended and emergency crews were using flashlights to search inside the wreckage for any bodies.

The accident occurred after a train traveling from Ankara to Istanbul ignored a signal and failed to stop at a junction, Cemal Yaman, an official of a local branch of the train workers union told the Anatolia news agency. The train was carrying 153 passengers and nine crew members.

Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said, "One of the trains passed a red light. When the (engineer) noticed he tried to reduce speed but unfortunately the accident occurred."

However, conductor Hasan Yucedag told Anatolia from his hospital bed that "the light was green for us. It suddenly turned red as we were about to cross."

Yucedag suffered a broken arm.

The other train was traveling from Istanbul to Adapazari in northwestern Turkey, officials said.

The prime minister's office said six people were killed and 85 were injured. Most of the injured were released from the hospital by nightfall.

Mahmut Yanmis, who survived the accident, told CNN-Turk television the collision occurred after his train left Tavsancil station.

"I made my way through a broken window," said Yanmis, who had stitches on his head and scratches on his arms. "When I went out of the car, I saw the decapitated body of a conductor trapped at the gate of the locomotive.

"I saw the passenger sitting next to me dead. Body pieces were scattered everywhere."

At the crash site, a middle-aged man screamed, "My God! My God! Ismail! Ismail!" in apparent reference to a victim.

Several relatives or friends sat on the bumper of an ambulance, waiting for news. One man sat with his head between his hands, crying.

The accident comes three weeks after a newly inaugurated high-speed train from Istanbul to Ankara derailed, killing 37 people - one of the worst train accidents in Turkey.

The July 22 derailment - which occurred some 60 miles from Wednesday's crash - was a major embarrassment to the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who personally launched the train in June.

The government has launched three separate probes - by academics, a prosecutor and a team of foreign experts - into that accident.

Three days after the derailment, a passenger train slammed into a minibus at a western railroad crossing, killing 15 people and injuring four others.