Turkish Rail Tragedy

BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Turkish train crash 'kills 128'

A Turkish government official says at least 128 people have been killed after a high-speed train derailed.

Health Ministry Undersecretary Nejdet Unuvar said that another 57 people were injured in the derailment.

"The scene is one of carnage... There are people lying all over the place," journalist Oguz Dizer was quoted as telling NTV television.

A number of carriages were overturned, but it was not immediately clear what caused the train to leave the tracks.

Reports say the train had 230 people on board, so 128 dead would be more than half the passengers on the train, which if true is a major tragedy.

From the pictures of the TV news, I have to say I'm somewhat skeptical about the reported death toll. It's common for initial estimates of the number of deaths on major train accidents to be revised downwards as the wreckage is searched and people are accounted for. Let's hope and pray that's true for this crash.

The pictures showed showed several modern carriages lying at various angles, but largely intact. The damage shown didn't seem serious enough for the sort of death toll being talked about. Of course, I may be completely wrong; presumably a clearer picture will emerge tomorrow morning.

Update:. The Turkish authorities have revised the death toll down to 38. Still bad, though.