Meral Danış Beştaş, deputy chairwoman of Turkey’s Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), was diagnosed with a fracture in her lower back after being involved in a traffic accident in Erzurum (Erzirom) on Thursday after examinations at Erzurum City Hospital and was transferred to the capital Ankara by air ambulance to be taken into surgery, Mezopotamya News Agency (MA) reported.
The accident, in which the driver Mehmet Vefa and an unnamed party executive were also involved, occurred in the Karayazı (Qereyazi) district of Erzurum, where Beştaş and her team were travelling for their campaign activities. The cause of the accident is not yet known, but it resulted in Beştaş being trapped inside the vehicle. She was rescued by the fire brigade teams who arrived at the scene shortly after the accident.
Beştaş was first rushed to the Karayazı State Hospital for treatment along with her two companions and was reported to be conscious with non-life-threatening injuries. She was then transferred to the Erzurum City Hospital with a suspected spinal fracture after an initial examination in the ambulance outside the hospital.