Fire-fighting plane with eight people onboard crashes in Turkey: no survivors

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A fire-fighting plane with eight people on board crashed in southern Turkey on Saturday. The aircraft was used to fight a wildfire in the country. All occupants were killed, Russian news agencies reported.

According to the Russian state news agency Tass, it is a Beriev Be-200 fire-fighting aircraft of the Russian army. It was hired especially for fire-fighting in Turkey. All eight people on board, five Russian soldiers and three Turkish civilians, did not survive the crash. The cause of the accident is not yet known.

🔴 We are following reports that a Russian Beriev Be-200 amphibious firefighting aircraft impacted a mountainside while fighting forest fires in Turkey. Seven crew on board. https://t.co/pUA5brtY82
— Aviation Safety Network (ASN) (@AviationSafety) August 14, 2021

Smoke plume

The plane crashed in a mountainous area in Turkey's Kahramanmaras region — The plane crashed in a mountainous area in Turkey’s Kahramanmaras region – ©AFP

The plane crashed in the Kahramanmaras region. According to the Turkish state news agency Anadolu, a large number of aid workers rushed to the site of the crash. Turkish television channels showed images of a plume of smoke rising from a mountainous area.

Turkey has been confronted with severe forest fires in the south of the country since the end of July. The government speaks of the worst such disaster in the country’s history. Most fires are now under control, but it remains a difficult and uphill battle.