36 dead in Turkey train wreck
Early reports said more than 100 dead
 |  Hospital workers lift an injured man out of an ambulance. |
| |
|  VIDEO |
 A train traveling from Istanbul to Ankara derails
|
|
ANKARA, Turkey (CNN) -- At least 36 people were killed and dozens injured Thursday when a high-speed train derailed in northwestern Turkey, according to a health ministry official.
Initial reports placed the death toll at 139, but officials later lowered the number of fatalities.
At least 43 people were injured, with some reports saying as many as 76 were being treated.
The train -- traveling from Istanbul to Ankara -- was carrying nine crew members and 234 passengers, a railroad spokesman said.
Oguz Dizer, a journalist who was traveling in the area, said he saw several bodies lying near the tracks.
"The scene is one of carnage," Dizer was quoted as saying. "There are people lying all over the place."
Rescue personnel combed the rocks and brush alongside the tracks looking for survivors.
The injured were loaded onto stretchers and rushed to hospitals.
Officials turned a bulldozer with its front-loader raised into a makeshift command center. Men stood in the elevated bucket to survey the scene and call directions to those on the ground.
Ali Kemal Ergulec, vice president of Turkish railroad services, said Train 1106 derailed near Pamukova, a small town near the epicenter of a 1999 earthquake. Pamukova Mayor Feridun Turan said six cars derailed.
The cause of the crash was unknown.
"They are working on it," said Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who visited the crash scene. "We don't know the exact reasons yet, they are searching [for] any technical problems, but I think we will give the exact results tomorrow."
Though the train's initial speed was 150 km/h (95 mph), it had slowed down by 7:45 p.m. (1845 GMT/12:45 p.m. ET) -- the time the derailment occurred, said Muammer Turker, a railroad spokesman in Ankara.
The train, which was filled to capacity, left Istanbul at 6 p.m. and was about halfway to its destination when it derailed.
While the cause of the derailment was not immediately known, there was opposition when the line started operating June 4, the Associated Press reported.
Critics said the tracks were too old for the new trains.
The crash marked a setback to Turkey's efforts to modernize its outdated rail services and an embarrassment for the government of Erdogan, who had launched the high-speed line with gala celebrations.
CNNTurk's Aysen Atasir contributed to this story
Copyright 2004 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
