Heavy snowfall over the past two days continues to wreak havoc across Turkey, causing school closures and traffic accidents and leaving many roads impassable Today`s Zaman reported.
Schools were closed on Tuesday in many districts, including some in İstanbul, Zonguldak, Bursa, Bayburt, Erzincan, Sivas, Malatya, Kahramanmaraş, Kocaeli, Bingol, Elazıg and Gumushane.More than 1,000 village roads across Turkey were also closed due to heavy snow.
The continuous snowfall played a role in numerous traffic accidents in different parts of the country over the past two days as well. University student Çiğdem İlhan died on Monday evening in the northern province of Gumushhane when a car driven by her friend Furkan Kaya lost traction on the icy road and veered into a ditch. İlhan died at the scene while Kaya, seriously injured, was taken to the nearest hospital. In a separate incident in the same province on Monday, a driver lost control of his van on a snowy road and drove into a small stream, leaving him injured.
In the northern province of Samsun on Tuesday, Mustafa Kıraclı died after he lost control of his car on the icy Samsun-Ankara highway and rolled it.
A bus carrying 20 passengers in İstanbul was overturned on Tuesday, claiming one life and injuring 16. The bus reportedly went off the road and rolled. Zarif Akturk died at the scene while the 16 injured were taken to the hospital by emergency services. Another accident occurred early on Tuesday in İstanbul's Caglayan neighborhood when two metrobuses collided, causing congestion in the specially designated metrobus lane. There were no injuries, and buses were able to resume their routes after the two vehicles were removed from the lane.
A car hit a minibus along the Shanlıurfa-Gaziantep highway on Tuesday morning in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa. An individual from each vehicle was killed and 10 were injured. A police investigation has been launched into the incident.
A minibus carrying a teacher and 12 students in the Central Anatolian city of Konya rolled into a roadside ditch when the driver lost control of the vehicle on an icy road. All sustained injuries and were taken to a nearby hospital.
In the Central Anatolian province of Yozgat, a bus rolled into a ditch, leaving 26 injured. One died in a separate accident in the same city when their car rolled into a ditch.
Another person was killed and 15 injured in a traffic accident along the TEM highway near Bolu Mountain on Tuesday when a bus overturned.
A number of domestic and international flights by Turkish Airlines (THY) into and out of İstanbul Atatürk Airport also had to be canceled as snowfall continues to disrupt transportation across the country.