Six members of the same family were killed when a minivan crashed into a truck in the Akçadağ district of the eastern Turkish province of Malatya on Sunday.

The victims were traveling to Kayseri from Malatya when their vehicle collided with a truck in the opposite lane. The cause of the accident is not clear yet and an investigation has been launched. The truck driver was detained by security forces. The victims were between the ages of 7 and 58. Everyone in the minivan died at the scene except a 14-year-old boy who succumbed to his wounds at the hospital he was taken to.

Traffic accidents claim hundreds of lives every year in Türkiye despite safety measures. In 2021, 5,362 people died in traffic accidents though it was a lower figure compared to the 2015 record of 7,530. Speaking at a road safety event last week, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu stated that Türkiye is one of two countries that achieved the goal of halving traffic accident fatalities in the last decade.