At least 8 killed when a Russian firefighting plane assisting efforts against Turkey's wildfires crashed on Saturday, military officials revealed.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the Be-200 plane crashed while landing.
UPDATE — All of the Turkish and Russian crew members onboard a firefighting plane rented from Russia died after the plane crashed in southern Turkey, Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu sayshttps://t.co/N5ulWmVv4A pic.twitter.com/2rOrLdfPrq
— DAILY SABAH (@DailySabah) August 14, 2021
"While extinguishing a fire near the city of Kahramanmaras, a Be-200 firefighting aircraft rented in Russia crashed," Turkey's forestry department said. "The crew consisted of eight people -- six from the Russian team and two from the [Turkish] forestry department. The fate of the crew is still unknown."
Russia's state-run Tass news agency reported that a Russian Defense Ministry delegation was en route to the crash site to investigate.
Gov. Omer Faruk Coskun said Turkey rented the aircraft from Russia to assist in firefighting efforts in the south.
All 8 people on board feared dead as Russian firefighting plane crashes in the vicinity of the city of Kahramanmaras, Turkey.#VoiceOfNations pic.twitter.com/K3CucvHdos
— Voice of Nations (@VoiceOfNations7) August 15, 2021
The forestry department on Thursday said all wildfires had been brought under control. Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli said the government shut down all fire-hit regions for hunting activities through the end of 2022 to protect the vulnerable wildlife.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
