| Advertisement |
July 16 (UPI) -- A Turkish reconnaissance plane surveilling eastern Turkey crashed in a mountainous area in Van province Wednesday night, killing seven, officials said. The 2015 aircraft took off from Van Ferit Melen Airport Wednesday night on a mission to survey Van and Hakkari provinces. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu had been conducting such surveillance since Monday.
Advertisement
Officials lost radar and communication with the aircraft before midnight when the aircraft was last reported in the Baskale district. The pilot last contacted the control tower about 45 minutes before.
The aircraft was found crashed on Mount Artos at an elevation of 7,218 feet, Soylu said. Van province borders Iran.
"Our teams have informed us that we have lost seven heroes, two of them are the pilots," Suleyman Soylu told reporters early Thursday.
The General Directorate of Security identified those on the airplane as: Police superintendent Gokhun Mete Altunbas; sub-inspector Samet Ustuner; sub-inspector Irfan Aydogan; sub-inspector Semih Guzelay; police officer Mustafa Keskin; police officer Onur Ramazan Bayram and police officer Burak Derya.
Altunbas and Ustuner were the pilots on the plane.
