Seven people died, including two pilots: what is known about the plane crash in Turkey

In the eastern part of Turkey, a plane crash occurred with the participation of an aircraft of the Republic’s Main Security Directorate, which performed an observation mission. The tragedy killed seven people, including two pilots.

According to Turkish Minister of Internal Affairs Suleiman Soilu, from Monday, July 13, the department’s aircraft under registration number EM-809 was deployed in the provinces of Van and Hakkari. He flew from the Ferit Melen airport of Van at 6:35 pm local time (same as Moscow time) as part of an observation mission.

According to Soilu, the last time the aircraft crew contacted the dispatchers at 22:32, saying that it was on the way back. However, after 13 minutes, the communication and radar systems of the board stopped signaling. Then there was a message that in the vicinity of the city of Gevas a plane was losing its altitude. He fell on the slope of Mount Artos at an altitude of 2200 meters.

“The last time the pilots got in touch at 22:32 in the sky over the Bashkale area. They reported that they are returning. At 22:45 the plane disappeared from the radar, the connection was interrupted. At 23:15 it became known about the crash, ”Soylu explained.

After this, a search operation began, the wreckage of the aircraft was discovered at about 3 a.m. on July 16.

“Representatives of our services informed us that we lost seven heroes, two of them are pilots,” he said.

According to him, all versions of the crash of the aircraft built in 2015 will be studied. This is a Beechcraft King Air 350 passenger airliner, modifications of which are used by a number of European countries for conducting observation and monitoring flights.

Bakanımız Sn. @suleymansoylu Van Gevaş'ta, insanlı keşif uçağının düştüğü bölgede incelemelerde bulunuyor pic.twitter.com/30crkOsXJX

Later, the Turkish Interior Minister arrived in the area where the tragedy occurred, along with the police chief, provincial governor of Van and commander of the gendarmerie corps. Representatives of the police general directorate for liquidation of the consequences of the accident also arrived at the scene.

Aircraft emergency in Turkey

Since the beginning of 2020, several more plane crashes have occurred in Turkey.

In particular, on January 7, the plane of the low-cost carrier Pegasus Airlines Boeing 737-800, flying to Istanbul from the city of Sharjah (UAE), rolled out of the runway. Then, out of 164 passengers aboard the airliner, no one was hurt. Landing of the aircraft took place in adverse weather conditions.

However, a few days later, a similar incident occurred in Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen International Airport, also with the participation of the Turkish airline Pegasus Airlines Boeing 737-800. He led to the death of three passengers. In total, there were 183 people (177 passengers and six crew members) aboard the PC 2193 flight Izmir - Istanbul. Among them - 22 foreigners from 12 countries of the world, there were no Russians.

The plane rolled out of the runway, sliding into a ditch. After stopping, the Boeing 737-800 fuselage fell into three parts. A fire also occurred, but it was quickly eliminated by firefighters who arrived at the emergency site. Passengers were urgently taken to nearby hospitals.

The tragedy in Iran

The most resonant plane crash involving Boeing 737-800 occurred in the sky over Iran. On January 8, representatives of the Iranian air defense forces dealt an erroneous blow to a civilian plane of Ukraine International Airlines, on board of which there were 176 people. The incident killed: 81 Iranian citizens, 57 Canadians, 13 citizens of Afghanistan, 11 Ukrainians, ten citizens of Sweden and four British.

Recall that the crash occurred at the time when the Iranian armed forces carried out the operation “Martyr Suleymani”, striking at American military facilities in Iraq in response to the assassination of General of the Guard Corps of the Islamic Republic Kassem Suleymani. He died in the vicinity of the airport in Baghdad as a result of an American airstrike inflicted on the night of January 3.

As Iranian leader Hassan Rouhani explained, the Iranian army was put on full alert to protect itself from possible attacks by the United States, "which, unfortunately, led to this terrible disaster."

In turn, President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky said that Ukraine would appeal to international courts if Iran did not fulfill its obligations by providing Kiev with black boxes and compensation for damage.