A firefighting airplane from Russia crashed Saturday in a mountainous space in southern Turkey, killing the eight crew members and emergency staff aboard, Russia’s Defense Ministry mentioned.
The Russian ministry mentioned 5 Russian and three Turkish residents had been on the amphibious Beriev BE-200, which crashed whereas attempting to land in Turkey’s Adana province. A crew to analyze the accident was dispatched to the Kahramanmaras space, Turkish state media mentioned.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu tweeted he was tremendously saddened by the deaths and mentioned their “heroic sacrifices” wouldn’t be forgotten. Turkey has fought some 300 wildfires within the final 16 days which have killed eight different folks, consumed forests and houses and despatched 1000’s fleeing.
Kahramanmaras governor Omer Faruk Coskun instructed Anadolu {that a} wildfire had begun after lightning struck timber.
“We had dispatched a plane to the area but we lost communication with the plane a while ago and it crashed. The situation is very new. We dispatched many units to the area where the plane crashed,” he mentioned.
The Be-200 is a two-engine amphibious plane utilized in Russia and different nations to combat forest fires. It is able to dropping as much as 270 metric tons of water in a number of runs throughout a single mission.
Wildfires in Turkey’s Mediterranean area started in late July and have incinerated 1000’s of acres of forests, principally within the seaside provinces of Mugla and Antalya. The fires got here as Turkey and the entire Mediterranean endured a chronic warmth wave.
Climate scientists say there may be little doubt local weather change from the burning of coal, oil and pure fuel is driving extra excessive occasions, comparable to warmth waves, droughts, wildfires, floods and storms.
Northern Turkey has been hit this week by flash floods which have killed not less than 44 folks, turning streets into raging torrents.
