Three firefighters die in Turkey helicopter crash
The team that was involved in the helicopter crash was made up of three Kyrgyz nationals and one Turk.
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Investigators walk around rotor blades from one of the crashed helicopters on a burned hillside in Cabazon, California, on August 7, 2023. (AFP via Getty Images)
Turkish divers searched Sunday for the bodies of three firefighters who died after their helicopter crashed into a water reservoir near the western resort city of Izmir.
The helicopter went down during a mission to pick up water to douse a forest fire on Saturday night.
The team was made up of three Kyrgyz nationals and one Turk. One of the Kyrgyz firefighters was rescued and rushed to hospital in good condition.
"We learned with sadness that the crew members on our helicopter, which crashed into the dam while responding to the forest fire... lost their lives," local deputy mayor Erkan Ozkan said.
Rescue boats and divers were broadcast on live television amid the rescue mission to recover the bodies and raise some of the debris.
Read next: World must brace for 30% more wildfires by 2050: UN
On that note, human-induced greenhouse gas emissions are driving global warming, leading to shifts in weather patterns and exacerbating a prolonged drought in various regions of Turkey.
In response to the destructive fires of 2021, which claimed nine lives and placed significant political pressure on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has allocated substantial resources to enhance its emergency response efforts.
Erdogan's actions included expediting Turkey's long-delayed ratification of the Paris Climate Accords and making investments in new firefighting aircraft and helicopters.
