08.11.2026 16:40
In Istanbul’s Zeytinburnu, 55-year-old Şenel Çıtak, who was walking home after work, was seriously injured when a pickup truck hit her as she tried to cross the street because the sidewalk had been closed due to construction work, according to allegations. After the accident, in which the driver fled the scene, Çıtak, who could not be saved at the hospital, was buried. The pickup truck driver, identified from security cameras, was taken into custody.
After leaving work in ZEYTİNBURNU, Şenel Çıtak (55), who was going home, wanted to cross to the other side of the road because he could not walk on the sidewalk due to construction work. Meanwhile, a moving pickup truck hit Çıtak and fled. Çıtak, who was taken to hospital by an ambulance passing by after the accident, could not be saved despite all interventions. His son Ömer Faruk Çıtak said, “The person who hit him comes fast, hits him; continues on his way. If he had stopped and looked there, realized what he hit, called 112 Emergency Call Center at that moment, and intervention had been made immediately, maybe I would not have lost my father now.”
The accident occurred on Wednesday, November 4, around 18:10 on Litros Yolu Street in Maltepe Neighborhood. According to the allegation, Şenel Çıtak, walking home after work, had to cross the street because the sidewalk was closed to pedestrian passage due to construction work on the road he was walking. At that time, a pickup truck traveling on the road, whose license plate had not yet been learned, hit Çıtak and quickly fled the scene.
TAKEN TO HOSPITAL BY AN AMBULANCE PASSING BY
Upon reports from people around who saw the accident, medical teams were dispatched to the scene. Meanwhile, an ambulance passing by the scene took seriously injured Şenel Çıtak to the nearest hospital. Çıtak, who was learned to have severe bone fractures and internal bleeding, could not be saved despite all the doctors’ interventions. During work by police teams on security cameras at and around the scene, the pickup truck driver involved in the accident was taken into custody. It was learned that the suspect’s procedures at the police station were ongoing.
After the autopsy at the Morgue of the Council of Forensic Medicine, Şenel Çıtak’s body was handed over to his family. The funeral prayer for Çıtak was performed at Akşemsettin Mosque in Küçükçekmece İnönü Neighborhood during the afternoon prayer. Şenel Çıtak was sent off amid the tears of relatives, loved ones, and coworkers and was buried in Yeni Ayazağa Cemetery. While the family claimed that security measures were taken at the scene after the accident, Şenel Çıtak’s final moments were reflected in security camera footage.
His son Ömer Faruk Çıtak said, “When my father did not come, I called to ask where he was. Hospital security answers the phone. He says my father had a traffic accident. Normally he liked to tease and joke. When someone was with him, he liked to hand over the phone and trick me. I thought the same again. When I asked which hospital, I learned it was real. We went to the hospital, they took us into the room, 2 doctors came and explained the situation to us. When he arrived at the hospital, he was unconscious. He had no movement at all. His condition was critical; they said, ‘We intubated him.’ He had suffered a brain hemorrhage, had lost a lot of blood. They told us there were fractures and cracks in his skull and fractures in his neck. The brain had already developed edema.”
IF HE HAD CALLED 112, MAYBE I WOULD NOT HAVE LOST MY FATHER
Çıtak said, “He undergoes a 4-5 hour surgery, they say, ‘After the surgery we took him to intensive care.’ Then they call us upstairs. They say he has passed into a vegetative state. About half an hour later, a phone call comes from the hospital saying that my father’s heart stopped on the phone. About 20 minutes later, they say they lost my father. There is loss of life; it is not easy. Losing a human life should not be this easy. The person who hit him comes fast and hits him; continues on his way. If he had stopped and looked there, realized what he hit, called 112 Emergency Call Center at that moment, and intervention had been made immediately, maybe I would not have lost my father now. I want justice to be served. We want the person who did this to receive the heaviest sentence, the sentence he most deserves.”
His nephew İsa Çıtak said, “While crossing the road, he hits my uncle from the front left. He stops 15 meters ahead. Then he continues on his way as if nothing had happened. He does not get out and look at what he hit, then he pulls away and leaves. There was a construction site there. Because iron rebar was piled in front of the construction site, he could not walk on the sidewalk and had to jump onto the road. At that moment, a vehicle hit him.”
OUR PROBLEM IS TAKING MEASURES AFTER WE LOSE SOMETHING
His coworker Halit Zinetbaş, who claimed that security measures were taken at the scene with bollards after the accident, said, “There is construction work. Because they occupied the sidewalk, pedestrians cannot use the sidewalk. Out of necessity, he feels the need to cross to the opposite sidewalk. While he is trying to cross, a vehicle hits him. The pickup truck comes very fast. In the footage, it comes so fast that its license plate cannot be read, and it hits him. After hitting him, the driver stops and gets out. He watches the injured person’s death throes, so to speak, then gets back into the vehicle and moves on. Human life should not be this cheap. He clocked out at 18:00 and, while crossing the road, died around 18:05-18:10, and no one was aware of it. A life is gone. This life has children, a spouse, siblings. I think our problem in Turkey is that we take measures after losing things.”