Paramedics and firefighters among dead as bus hits emergency crews attending road crash

At least 16 people have been killed in Turkey when a passenger bus crashed into emergency teams handling an earlier road accident, officials have said.

Three firefighters, four emergency health workers and two journalists from a Turkish news agency were among those killed on the road between Gaziantep and Nizip, both in Gaziantep province in the southeast of the country, regional governor Davut Gul said.

Speaking from the scene of the crash, Mr Gul said: “At around 10.45 this morning, a passenger bus crashed here.

“While the fire brigade, medical teams and other colleagues were responding to the accident, another bus crashed 200 metres behind.

“The second bus slid to this site and hit the first responders and the wounded people on the ground.”

The rest of those who died were bus passengers, interior minister Suleyman Soylu said.

Mr Gul said a 22 further people have been injured.

The Ilhas News Agency reported two of its drone operators were killed after pulling over to help the victims of the initial crash.

The first bus had veered off the road and gone down an embankment.

Television footage from the scene showed an ambulance with severe damage and the bus overturned on its side.

Vice president Fuat Oktay said the emergency workers and journalists had “lost their lives in the line of duty”.