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Eleven killed and 46 injured in bus crash in north-western Turkey

Crashed bus
The bus, whose passengers were mainly families on their way to a nearby ski resort, crashed in the region of Eskisehir. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Eleven people were killed and 46 injured when a bus taking families on a skiing trip crashed in north-western Turkey, local officials said.

The bus, which was making an overnight journey from the capital, Ankara, to the western city of Bursa, crashed into trees on a motorway in the region of Eskişehir, its governor Ozdemir Çakacak told the Dogan news agency.

Roads were empty, and neither wet nor frozen, Çakacak said.

The two drivers, who sustained slight injuries, have been arrested and the cause of the crash is being investigated.

Passengers were mainly families with children who were going to Bursa to spend upcoming half-term holidays at the nearby Uludağ ski resort.

It is not yet known if any children were killed.

The state-run Anadolu Agency quoted the bus driver as telling police that he veered toward the side of the road to avoid what he thought was a stray dog.

Turkey has a poor road safety record with more than a million accidents and 7,300 deaths in 2016, according to official statistics.