At least 24 people were killed and more than 70 were injured when a passenger train derailed in Turkey’s northwestern province of Tekirdag on Sunday, the Anadolu news agency quoted Deputy Prime Minister Recep Akdag as saying.

Akdag said search and rescue operations in the region were completed by 6 am (8.30 am Indian Standard Time) on Monday. Transport Minister Ahmet Arslan said an annual, routine, check of railway tracks on the route was conducted in April.

The train, with about 360 passengers on board, was travelling to Istanbul from the town of Kapikule on the Bulgarian border, BBC reported. Six of the carriages derailed, local media reported. The exact cause of the crash is unclear but authorities have blamed bad weather and a landslide for the accident. The transport ministry said the accident occurred after the railway track slipped from its original position because of torrential rainfall.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was informed about the accident by Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu and Arslan over the phone. In a statement, Erdogan said the train accident is being investigated thoroughly and conveyed his condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the accident.