Turkish trucks crash, 39 killed-report

ISTANBUL, May 19 (Reuters) Thirty-nine people died when a truck carrying Afghan citizens and another truck crashed on a highway in Turkey today, NTV television reported.

The accident, which also left six injured, was a motorway running from Osmaniye to Gaziantep, in southeastern Turkey, the broadcaster said on its Web site, quoting Osmaniye Governor Zubeyir Kemelek.

Kemelek said smuggled Afghan and Bangladeshi immigrants may have been in one of the trucks. Turkey is a major transit route into Europe for illegal immigrants.

The Turkey Drivers and Motorists Federation said in February that 134,343 people had died and 2.2 million people injured in traffic accidents in Turkey in the last 26 years.

In 2004, 3,082 people were killed in 494,851 accidents, but in 2005, the number of deaths went up to 3,215 people in 570,419 accidents.

REUTERS DKS KN2105