Military Helicopter Crash in Southeast Turkey Kills 11
TATVAN (Dispatches) – An army helicopter crashed in southeast Turkey on Thursday, killing 11 military personnel and injuring two others, the defense ministry said.
The Cougar-type helicopter crashed near the village of Cekmece, close to the town of Tatvan, in the predominantly Kurdish-populated Bitlis province. It was on its way to Tatvan from the nearby province of Bingol when authorities lost contact with it at 2:25pm (11:25 GMT), the ministry said.
Nine of the victims died at the crash site, while two died of their injuries in hospital, officials said.
The victims included Lieutenant-General Osman Erbas, an army corps commander, said Devlet Bahceli, the leader of Turkey’s main nationalist party, on Twitter.
The defense ministry described the crash as accidental but did not elaborate.
Turkish media reports said Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, and senior military figures were travelling to the site of the crash.
Television images from the site showed the ground blanketed with snow and visibility hampered by thick clouds hanging over the mountainous region.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered his condolences. "I pray for Allah’s mercy for our nine martyrs... Our pain is great,” Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin had tweeted earlier, when the death toll had been put at nine.
Iran’s Ambassador to Ankara, Mohammad Farazmand, also offered his condolences to the Turkish government and people, including the bereaved families, over the "painful” incident. Farazmand also wished swift recovery for those injured in the crash.
The area where the incident occurred is subject to regular Turkish military patrols and missions against Kurdish militants.
In 2017, a military helicopter crashed in the southeastern Sirnak Province near Turkey’s border with Syria and Iraq, killing 13 troops.
The Cougar-type helicopter crashed near the village of Cekmece, close to the town of Tatvan, in the predominantly Kurdish-populated Bitlis province. It was on its way to Tatvan from the nearby province of Bingol when authorities lost contact with it at 2:25pm (11:25 GMT), the ministry said.
Nine of the victims died at the crash site, while two died of their injuries in hospital, officials said.
The victims included Lieutenant-General Osman Erbas, an army corps commander, said Devlet Bahceli, the leader of Turkey’s main nationalist party, on Twitter.
The defense ministry described the crash as accidental but did not elaborate.
Turkish media reports said Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, and senior military figures were travelling to the site of the crash.
Television images from the site showed the ground blanketed with snow and visibility hampered by thick clouds hanging over the mountainous region.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered his condolences. "I pray for Allah’s mercy for our nine martyrs... Our pain is great,” Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin had tweeted earlier, when the death toll had been put at nine.
Iran’s Ambassador to Ankara, Mohammad Farazmand, also offered his condolences to the Turkish government and people, including the bereaved families, over the "painful” incident. Farazmand also wished swift recovery for those injured in the crash.
The area where the incident occurred is subject to regular Turkish military patrols and missions against Kurdish militants.
In 2017, a military helicopter crashed in the southeastern Sirnak Province near Turkey’s border with Syria and Iraq, killing 13 troops.