Turkish rail crash: Three rail workers detained

A Turkish court on Monday placed three railway workers in pre-trial detention after they were accused of negligence leading to last week’s fatal rail crash in Ankara.

Nine people were killed and almost 90 injured after a high-speed train crashed into a locomotive.

Those detained — a signalman, a switchman and a controller working for the state railway authority — face charges of reckless manslaughter and causing injury, the Anadolu state news agency reported.

Following the accident Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed those responsible would be held to account.

Ankara Governor Vasip Sahin said the accident happened after the early morning high-speed train with some 200 people aboard and travelling to the central province of Konya hit a locomotive checking rails on the same route.

Turkey has in recent years sought to modernise its railways network following a string of fatal accidents.

July saw 24 people killed when passenger train left the track in northwestern Turkey.