ANKARA, Turkey -- An official says a truck transporting milk has slammed into a pickup truck carrying farm workers to a plantation in western Turkey, killing 15 people, most of them women.

Erdogan Bektas, governor for Manisa province, said two other people were injured in the accident, which occurred Monday on a road near the town of Golmarmara. Manisa is some 530 kilometres (330 miles) south of Istanbul.

The cause of the accident was under investigation but Bektas said authorities believe the milk truck driver might have fallen asleep while driving.

The governor said the victims included 13 women from the same village who were being transported to pick grape vine leaves used in Turkish cuisine.