Russian firefighting plane crashes in Turkey killing 8

Aug. 14 (UPI) -- A Russian amphibious firefighting aircraft assisting efforts against Turkey's wildfires crashed Saturday killing all eight aboard, military officials said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the Be-200 plane crashed while landing.

"While extinguishing a fire near the city of Kahramanmaras, a Be-200 firefighting aircraft rented in Russia crashed," Turkey's forestry department said. "The crew consisted of eight people -- six from the Russian team and two from the [Turkish] forestry department. The fate of the crew is still unknown."

Russia's state-run Tass news agency reported that a Russian Defense Ministry delegation was en route to the crash site to investigate.

Gov. Omer Faruk Coskun said Turkey rented the aircraft from Russia to assist in firefighting efforts in the south.

The forestry department on Thursday said all wildfires had been brought under control. Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli said the government shut down all fire-hit regions for hunting activities through the end of 2022 to protect the vulnerable wildlife.