ANKARA: A vehicle carrying migrants believed to be from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh rolled into a ditch in eastern Turkey, leaving 15 people dead, a Turkish official said.

More than 20 others were injured in the accident near the town of Ozalp, in Van province, close to Turkey’s border with Iran, the province’s governor Mehmet Emin Binmez told Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency. There was no immediate information about the condition of the injured passengers.

Over the past few years, migrants have crossed in large numbers into Turkey, from where they try and reach European Union member Greece by land or sea. Several have died making dangerous sea crossings from the Turkish coast to nearby Greek islands.

Last month, a van carrying several migrants ignored orders to stop and crashed into a wall in a town in northwest Turkey, near Turkey’s border with Greece. Ten migrants were killed in the accident.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2019