This is the moment a tram hits a long, articulated bus at speed during the morning rush hour, leaving 33 people injured, four of them critical.

CCTV footage of the incident, which took place in the Alibeykoy neighbourhood in the Turkish city of Istanbul, shows the tram ramming into the bendy bus at speed on Monday morning, 5th December, at around 9 am.

The video begins by showing the yellow and black articulated bus crossing a tram line.

The tram can then be seen suddenly appearing out of nowhere and ramming the articulated bus right in the middle, hitting the pivoting joint that connects both halves of the vehicle together.

The bus is sent smashing into some parked cars and a car park booth, with the lucky parking attendant emerging alive from the destroyed structure, which had toppled over on top of him as he was in the doorway.

People can be seen rushing to make sure that he is okay and getting him out of the way as smoke from the crash fills the air.

At least 33 people were injured in the incident, according to Turkish media, with at least four of them in critical condition. A large number of ambulances, police and firefighters were sent to the scene to deal with the injured.

A parking attendant named as Selahattin Sahin said that the tram had cut the bus in half.

He added: “We barely got out of the vehicle’s way. God protected us.”

Firefighters reportedly had to spray the area with fire retardant foam due to a fuel leakage from the bus, with both of the damaged vehicles then removed by a crane and a tow truck.

Istanbul Governor Ali Yerlikaya said: “Unfortunately, 33 of our fellow citizens were injured in the traffic accident that occurred at Alibeykoy Tram Stop this morning.”

He also wished his fellow citizens a speedy recovery.

A statement from the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) said: “The T5 Tram line has been closed to two-way traffic.”

And Bulent Kahveci, a local business owner, is quoted in local media as saying that the incident might have been due to a signalling device that was out of order.

He said: “It was clear that this would occur at some point. The signal was out of order for the past 10 days, and maintenance work was ongoing near an area of Istanbul that has the most traffic.

“Although it is in the IBB’s records, they can examine the signalling errors but no proper repairs were made. We are residents here, and witnessing such events firsthand is a disaster.”