Bus plunges into a river in Turkey; 14 killed, 16 missing

ANKARA, Turkey - A passenger bus carrying some 40 people drove off a road and plunged into a river on Thursday, killing at least 14 passengers and injuring 11 others. Some 16 other passengers were missing and feared dead, a local official said. The bus was submerged in the waters of the Kelkit River after the pre-dawn crash in the central Turkish province of Tokat, 200 miles east of Ankara, local official Ferhat Kutoglu said. One passenger managed to free himself and walked to a nearby village for help, the Anatolia news agency reported. Ten other passengers climbed on top of the roof of the bus to wait for help, and rescuers pulled them to safety with ropes. Rescue teams and divers later recovered the bodies of 14 of the passengers, most of them from inside the bus, but about 16 other passengers were missing. Kutoglu said the missing had probably been swept away by the Kelkit's strong currents and had likely drowned. Two of the bodies were discovered near a bridge some 12 miles away from the scene of the crash, the agency reported. Kutoglu said rescuers were searching the river banks for bodies. Authorities shut down the floodgates of a nearby dam to lower water levels at the river, helping recovery efforts, Anatolia reported. The dead included at least two women and a child, Anatolia said. The bus was traveling from Istanbul to the eastern city of Van, near the Iranian border. -AP