At least 32 people were killed, most of them children, and another 30 wounded in Turkey on Saturday when a coach loaded with day-tripping students as well as teachers and parents crashed into a truck. The bus was travelling in the tourist region of Cappadocia and was near the central Turkish city of Aksaray when the accident occurred, the Anadolu news agency reported the authorities as saying. Television news images show the overturned coach lying across the highway, children's backpacks strewn across the road surface, dpa reported. Thirty injured were taken to hospitals in the region, provincial governor Sebati Buyuran said. The children, from an elementary school in the coastal city of Izmir, had been on a trip to see the famous volcanic rock formations and rock-carved churches at Cappadocia, among Turkey's most renowned attractions. Initial indication were that the overloading of the bus may have been a contributory factor in the crash. "There were way too many of us on the bus," said one injured relative from hospital. "Three children had to share two seats. Why aren't such school trips forbidden?" State news agency Anadolu said some 10 people who were not originally signed up for the trip were on the bus. The cause of the accident on a straight section of road however was not immediately clear. Among the dead were the driver of the truck as well as one companion. School authorities in Izmir said the bus had departed the city on Friday evening and was to reach its destination on Saturday morning. The accident occurred around 100 kilometres from the city of Nevsehir, located in Cappadocia.
