A high-speed train hit a railway engine and crashed into a pedestrian overpass at a station in the Turkish capital Ankara on Thursday, killing four people and injuring 43 others, officials and news reports said.

The 6:30 a.m. train from Ankara to the central Turkish city of Konya first collided with the engine that was checking the tracks at the capital city’s small Marsandiz station, Ankara Gov. Vasip Sahin told reporters at the scene. The high-speed train transits that station without stopping. 

Private NTV television said at least two cars derailed. Parts of the overpass collapsed onto the train.

Television footage showed emergency services working to rescue passengers from mangled cars and debris.

Rescue teams were looking for more survivors, Sahin said. “Our hope is that there are no other victims,” he said.

 

It was not immediately clear if a signaling problem caused the accident. Sahin said a technical investigation has begun. 

In July, 10 people were killed and more than 70 injured when most of a passenger train derailed in northwestern Turkey, after torrential rains caused part of the rail tracks to collapse. Last month, 15 people were injured when a passenger train collided with a freight train in Turkey’s central province of Sivas 

 

Konya, some 260 kilometers (160 miles) southwest of Ankara, is home to the tomb of the Sufi mystic and poet Jalaladdin Rumi, attracting thousands of pilgrims and tourists.
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