A tour bus that overshot its exit and started backing up on a Turkish highway was slammed from behind by a lumber truck, leaving a dozen people dead.

A tour bus and a truck collided near the Akhisar toll gates in western Turkey on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. The crash killed 12 people, including a woman who died later in the hospital.

The two vehicles crashed at the highway entrance in the Akhisar district of Manisa province, on the Gebze-Orhangazi-Izmir Highway, and both overturned on the median. Authorities received the report at 11:11 a.m. local time. Two drivers have since been arrested. The bus was carrying its passengers to the thermal springs of Denizli.

Ambulances, fire crews, police and other emergency units reached the site in large numbers, and crews ferried the injured to hospitals across the area.

“Health and rescue teams were directed to the scene, and efforts to rescue our citizens affected by the accident were quickly launched,” the Manisa Governor’s Office said in a statement.

The bus, with the license plate 16 AED 124, carried 34 passengers and three crew members. It had set off from Bursa toward Izmir and was headed for Pamukkale in Denizli. The truck had one driver aboard.

A Fatal Reverse at the Toll Gates

Initial findings showed the bus missed the Akhisar toll gates and was reversing when the truck hit it. The truck was loaded with lumber and was coming up from behind.

Highway camera footage shows the bus backing up after overshooting the junction, the truck closing in, and both vehicles tipping onto the median strip. Photographs from the scene show the bus slumped across the safety barriers with its rear end crushed.

Gendarmerie teams stayed at the site all day while highway crews cleared the roadway. A drone filmed the area from above. Crews brought in cranes, hoisted the overturned bus and truck off the median and hauled them away.

Death in Intensive Care Raises Toll

Officials briefed Manisa Gov. Vahdettin Ozkan when he came to see the crash site, and he gave a count of 11 dead and 27 injured. Health Minister Kemal Memisoglu said later that all 27 injured were under treatment. One of them was in serious condition, 18 in moderate condition and eight were doing well, he said.

Workers took three of the dead to the morgue of a private hospital in Akhisar. Eight others went to the morgue of Akhisar Mustafa Kirazoglu State Hospital. Victims who were identified numbered 11, and their ages ran from 58 to 88.

A woman in her 70s who had been in intensive care at Manisa City Hospital died later. Her death raised the toll to 12, Turkish media reported Oct. 17.

The Final Hours Before the Crash

Security camera footage captured the start of the trip. The group set out at about 6:30 a.m. from a restaurant in Bursa’s Osmangazi district, on Ulubatli Hasan Boulevard. Tour organizer Metin Yavuz, 62, appears on the camera as he comes through the door, talks with the staff and sits down to eat before the group leaves.

The bus pulled into a fuel station in the Mustafakemalpasa district at 8:20 a.m. for a brief stop, after picking up passengers. Seven minutes later, the passengers reboarded and the bus continued. Yavuz is among the injured.

Two Drivers Arrested, One Released

Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said the Akhisar Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office opened a judicial investigation, with three public prosecutors handling it. The Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office was coordinating the ongoing work at the site, Ozkan said.

Prosecutors said in a statement that bus driver M.A., backup bus driver M.Y. and truck driver H.K. had been taken into custody. Arrests followed on Oct. 12 for M.A. and H.K., while M.Y. was released under judicial control, Turkish media reported.

Teams from the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority, the police, the gendarmerie, the fire service and 112 emergency health rushed to the scene, Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci said. Ciftci said the government was tracking the response alongside every relevant institution. He also asked for God’s mercy on those who died and hoped the injured would get well quickly.

Presidential Communications Director Burhanettin Duran offered condolences to the families and relatives of the dead and wished the injured a speedy recovery.