A crane lifts the wreckage of a bus after an accident in Tekirdag, northwest of Turkey on 25 February 2011. One Turkish and four Greek passengers were killed when a bus coming from Athens, Greece overturned in Turkey's northwestern province of Tekirdag on 25 February

Four Greeks and a Turk died when a tourist coach fell into an eight-metre deep ditch in the area of Malkara in Turkey. The accident happened in the early hours of Friday.

The coach of the Metro travel agency had departed from Athens and was heading to Istanbul.

A number of injured passengers were transferred to a local hospital. Officials from the Greek General Consulate in Istanbul were en route to the hospital. A C-130 aircraft of the Greek air force was put on stand-by.

According to the Turkish authorities, the Greek citizens who were killed are Sofia Mariadi, Minas Solakidis, Arkadios Moisidis and Foto Mytakidi, who also had Turkish citizenship. Yassar Demirer from Turkey also lost his life. The bodies of those killed have been transferred to the Malkara state hospital.

The names of the Greeks who were injured are Panayiotis Paletidis, Maria Mariadi and Vasilis Naris.

The Turkish authorities believe that the cause of the accident was the slippery road surface due to icy conditions.