Russian Firefighting Plane Crashes in Turkey
In Turkey, a Russian firefighting plane crashed while executing a mission. Five Russians and three Turkish passengers were killed as reported by Interfax.
A Russian firefighting plane crashed today, Saturday, upon executing a firefighting mission in the Turkish Kahramanmaras district.
The plane was carrying five Russian servicemen and three Turkish Agriculture and Forestry Ministry personnel, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense. "A Russian Defense Ministry commission has been dispatched to the accident site to conduct an investigation," the ministry added.
According to the Russian news agency Interfax, the crash in Turkey resulted in the deaths of all eight passengers, leaving no survivors.
Rusya Savunma Bakanlığı:"Be-200 uçağı Adana yakınlarında iniş yaparken düştü. Kazayı araştırmak üzere bir ekip kaza bölgesine gönderildi.
— CorrespondentTR (@TrCorrespondent) August 14, 2021
Kazada 5' Rus, 3'ü Türk toplam 8 personel hayatını kaybetti."#Kahramanmaraş #kahramanmarasyanıyor #Onikişubat #Ilıca #SONDAKIKA #SonDakika pic.twitter.com/oLigyNGPMh
"A Russian Be-200 plane crashed while landing after completing the mission of suppressing wildfires in the Republic of Turkey, near the city of Adana," according to the Russian Embassy in Turkey.
Scenes of rising plumes of smoke following the plane crash were circulated by Turkish citizens from the state of Kahramanmaras, specifically from the Onikisubat area.
Kahramanmaraş'ta Rusya'dan kiralanan Beriev Be-200 yangın söndürme uçağı düştü, pic.twitter.com/qE6WpgQBSV
— Izzet Capa (@izzetcapa) August 14, 2021
According to the Russian Federation's Ministry of Emergency Situations, Russia has dispatched a joint air force, sent by the Defense Ministry and the Emergency Situations Ministry. The air force contains 11 items ready to be flown to Turkey to aid in extinguishing flames.
The Russian Ministry announced today that the Turkish Republic's authorities have requested Russian assistance in putting out raging fires in the forests, nearby towns, and tourist sites where a significant number of Russian citizens spend their vacation. It went on to say that a favorable decision had been made in this respect.
The Turkish government had previously announced that three Mi-8 helicopters and five L-76 planes were sent from Russia. Three Russian B-200 firefighting planes are also helping to put out forest fires in southern Turkey, according to the Russian Embassy in Ankara.