Turkish PM rejects train-crash criticism

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan angrily rejected calls yesterday to sack key officials after a recently inaugurated high-speed train came off the rails, killing 36 people and injuring 81.

Under fire from passengers, the media and trade unions, he said he would await a report from an investigative team on Thursday evening's crash, expected in seven to 10 days. Officials say a mechanical fault was probably to blame.

But piling on the pressure, experts said the government had ignored warnings that Turkey's creaking rail tracks could not handle the high-speed train link between the country's commercial hub Istanbul and the capital Ankara.

Asked by a reporter whether his transport minister would resign, Mr Erdogan said: "Your question is the last thing that comes to mind. You can't ask such a question if you feel the pain... Should the government resign after every accident?"

"Know your limits when you ask questions," he added. Echoing his defensive tone, Transport Minister Binali Yildirim told a news conference: "It is shameful to make politics out of this accident."

But Mr Yildirim, who in an interview to the Vatan newspaper given just hours before the crash had insisted the train was safe, said he would not try to shirk his responsibilities.

The crash, in a mountainous area of northwest Turkey near the town of Pamukova, has deeply embarrassed the government, which had inaugurated the new rail link in a blaze of publicity.

The new train was part of an extensive modernisation of Turkey's ramshackle rail network.

It covered the 567 kilometres between the two main cities in about five hours at speeds of up to 150 kilometres per hour, not especially fast by European or Japanese standards but impressive for Turkey.