Deadly school bus accident | ‘I submitted 18 petitions, all were shelved’

* News and picture: Anadolu Agency (AA)

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The children who were wounded in the deadly school minibus accident in Afyon province and their families have talked about the incident.

After the school minibus rolled over in Ayfon's İscehisar district on October 11, five children lost their lives and five children were injured.

Speaking to the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) about the accident, Hakan, one of the children wounded in the accident, said that the driver told them to "hold tight". Saying that the minibus almost rolled over due to high speed shortly after they left the village, Hakan said:

He lost the steering control while we were underway on a straight road. We told him to 'drive slow' but he said he would catch up on the bazaar. He told us to 'hold tight'. We said, 'We cannot hold tight'. Then, we had the accident. The door was tied with a rope that day. I was wounded in my leg, my arm and my head in the accident.

'Survivors are bed-ridden, have disabilities'

Hakan's mother Fadime Tek has indicated that before the accident, she went to the school and warned the principal:

I told the principal that he was not using the main road. What I was told was 'You will make do'. I submitted 18 petitions, all were shelved. I have no evidence. They brought this on my child. My first child has autism, my spouse had an occupational accident. Hakan was like my hands and feet. My child told me once, 'Mom, you will find us on the mountain road one day, the minibus goes so fast.' We found our children not on the mountain road but on a straight road. Five children died. Some of the ones who survived have become bed-ridden or have disabilities.

'He dropped me off far from home'

Yağmur is another child wounded in the accident. She has said that she asked the driver for his phone after the accident:

"He did not look at the children. He only looked at his vehicle. Then, we, three of us, went to ask for help. The door was tied with a rope. He was trying to go to the Iscehisar bazaar on time."

Student Arda also said that the driver wanted to drop him off far from his house before the accident happened:

"When my elder sister did not want to get off, he forced her to get out by hitting her in the back. I had nothing on the day of the incident. We took the ones in the vehicle out and went to ask for help."

Having lost her daughter in the accident, Aysun Demirel has said that she wants justice to be served.

What happened?

After a school minibus rolled over in Ayfon's İscehisar district on October 11, five children lost their lives and five children were injured.

Driven by A.Ş. (53), the minibus was carrying primary school children. Surviving the accident with minor wounds, a child walked nearly a kilometer to a nearby village and informed the villagers about the accident.

İsmail (11), Nisa (14) and Teslime Eser (13), Melisa Demirel (14) and Damla Duran (11) lost their lives in the accident.

Surviving the accident, driver A.Ş. was detained by the gendarmerie. Referred to the İscehisar Courthouse under tight security measures, A.Ş. was arrested by the criminal judgeship of peace on charge of "causing the death and injury of more than one person by negligence. (AÖ/SD)