The bodies of 27 victims, including three paramedics, three firefighters, a police officer and two journalists, killed in two separate traffic accidents in eastern Türkiye's Mardin and Gaziantep were laid to rest Sunday.
Thousands of people attended the funeral prayers held at several different locations in both cities.
While Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu attended the funeral for 19 people in Mardin, Deputy Health Minister Dr. Tolga Tolunay and other government senior officials attended the funerals in Gaziantep.
At least 20 people were killed and 26 injured Saturday in Mardin's Derik district where a truck collided with first responders of another accident involving a truck and two vehicles.
After the brakes of an articulated truck failed, causing it to crash into two other vehicles near a gas station. As first responders worked at the scene and crowds gathered to watch, another truck lost control and plowed into them.
Twenty people, including police officer, were killed at the scene.
After the autopsy, the bodies of 19 people were delivered to their families.
The victims were identified as İnan Berk, İbrahim Halil Has, İsa Ayebe, Ahmet Aktay, Ünal Ekinci, Bese Bağlayan, Mülkiye Acar, Hamit Akkoyun, Servan ve Mihriban Tanrısever, Fesih, Kemal ve Velat Dağ, İrfan Aktaş, Baran Açan, Hatip Denk and Sitti Abun. Their funeral prayers were held in separate mosques in Derik.
Interior Minister Soylu, who has been in the district since last night, visited the wounded in the hospitals and consoled the relatives of those who lost their lives. He later attended the funeral ceremonies.
The body of police officer Yahya Ergin, who was martyred in the same traffic accident was taken to his hometown of Çanakkale for burial.
Witnesses of the accident in Derik recounted the horrors to the media Sunday.
Gülsen Esen, who was at the scene of the accident, said she still has not recovered from the impact of the accident.
"I came to the bakery to buy bread. There was an accident, everyone rushed there. They took the wounded and the dead. We were on our way to our house when the second accident happened. It was a matter of seconds I survived." Esen said she could not believe she was still alive.
Esen said everyone in the town was in shock at that moment.
Seven people, including the paramedics, firefighters and journalists, who lost their lives when the passenger bus hit first responders in Gaziantep, were also laid to rest Sunday.
The funerals of paramedics Tuba Uzdilli, Adbullah Kütük and Halil Özden were held at the city's Abdulkadir Yüksel State Hospital.
The funerals of firefighters Mehmet Bozkurt (59), Mehmet Polat (57) and Ahmet Polat (29) took place at the Şehreküstü Fire Department.
After the ceremony, their bodies were taken to the Bahattin Nakiboğlu Mosque in the Asri Cemetery.
Deputy Health Minister Tolunay, Gaziantep Gov. Davut Gül, Gaziantep Chief Prosecutor İsmail Karataş, Metropolitan Mayor Fatma Şahin as well as other senior officials and politicians joined the relatives and colleagues of the dead at the funeral.
The funerals of the two journalists killed in the same accident, İhlas News Agency employees Muhammed Abdulkadir Esen (25) and Umut Yakup Tanrıöver (26) were also held Sunday.
The accident took place on the highway between Gaziantep and Nizip when a passenger bus collided with emergency teams that had responded to an earlier crash, killing at least 16 people and injuring 21 others.
