TWENTY-FOUR people were killed and hundreds injured when a train packed with weekend passengers derailed in northwest Turkey due to ground erosion afer heavy rains, officials said yesterday.

The train, with over 360 people on board, was travelling from the Edirne region on the Greek and Bulgarian borders to Istanbul’s Halkali station Sunday when six carriages derailed in the Tekirdag region.

Deputy Prime Minister Recep Akdag said 24 people died, in a sharp rise from the previous toll of 10.

The state-run Anadolu news agency quoted Akdag as saying search operations through the derailed train carriages had been completed yesterday morning.

Turkish media quoted Health Minister Ahmet Demircan as saying 338 people required hospital treatment after the accident with 124 still hospitalized.

The transport ministry said that the train, carrying 362 passengers, had derailed as recent heavy downpours caused the ground beneath the track to erode away.

Transport Minister Ahmet Arslan said that the latest checks on the rails had been made in April, Anadolu reported.

Turkish media, including the Hurriyet daily, published pictures showing the erosion had been so bad that part of the track was  in the air with no ground left to support it.

(SD-Agencies)