Five people were killed when a car crashed into a truck in the western Turkish province of Çanakkale early Monday.

The car was traveling to the Biga district from central Çanakkale when it crashed into a truck as it was leaving a gas station. All victims were occupants of the car. Their bodies were pulled from the wreckage while passersby extinguished a small fire in the vehicle following the accident. Security forces launched an investigation into the accident to determine the cause. The truck's driver, who was uninjured, was detained on unspecified charges.

The victims were identified as two men, one of whom was driving the car, and three women.

It was the second deadliest accident to occur this year so far. On the first day of 2022, seven people, including a family of six, were killed in the central province of Aksaray when two cars crashed into each other.

Traffic accidents claim hundreds of lives every year across the country and most stem from reckless driving. Last year, 2,422 people were killed in 430,204 accidents and another 276,935 people were injured. More than 194,000 of the accidents were caused by driver error. Fatalities significantly dropped in 2021, from 4,866 in 2020.