12 killed as bus carrying migrants overturns in east Turkey

Emergency workers emergency workers work through the burnt-out wreckage as others treat wounded survivors by the roadside in Muradiye in Van province, which borders Iran, early Sunday, July 11, 2021. A minibus carrying migrants overturned and caught fire in eastern Turkey, killing at least 10 and injuring 20 others, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported Sunday. The vehicle tumbled into a ditch while traveling overnight near Muradiyei, Van province. (Sukru Akyuz/IHA via AP)

Istanbul — A minibus carrying migrants overturned and caught fire in eastern Turkey, killing 12 people and injuring 20 others, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported Sunday.

The vehicle tumbled into a ditch while traveling overnight near Yumakli in Van province, which borders Iran.

Television broadcasts showed groaning survivors being treated by the roadside as emergency workers sifted through the burnt-out wreckage.

Migrants, mostly from Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, regularly cross the Iranian border into Turkey on foot before being ferried west to cities such as Istanbul and Ankara.

The planned U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan has given added impetus to young men trying the mountainous route, according to Metin Corabatir, president of the Ankara-based Center for Asylum and Migration Studies.

In June 2020, more than 60 migrants drowned in Lake Van when their boat sank.