AKIPRESS.COM - In the deadliest crash this month, a passenger bus crashed into a parked semi-trailer truck, killing 13 people and injuring 21 others in Turkey's northern Çorum province on Tuesday, Daily Sabah news agency reported.

The accident occurred around 6 a.m. Tuesday near the Kumbel village located in Çorum's Osmancık district.

The bus with 35 passengers departed from Istanbul and was reportedly its way to Tokat province.

Speaking to reporters after investigating the scene, chief prosecutor Ömer Faruk Yurdagül said the bus originally departed from Tekirdağ, a city west of Istanbul, before collecting the majority of its passengers from an Istanbul bus depot.

"There were 35 people onboard, including three staff members of the bus company," Yurdagül said, citing that one of the injured victims was in critical condition. He confirmed that the victims included children.

The chief prosecutor said the truck carrying natural gas pipes with a Georgian license plate had parked after it broke down, and the exact cause of the crash was still being investigated.

"Most passengers were asleep, so they are not aware of how it happened," he said.