SANAA, July 16 (YPA) – Turkish Interior Minister said that a reconnaissance plane crashed in the Van region in eastern Turkey, Turkish “Anatolia” news agency reported on Thursday.
Anadolu added that the accident resulted in the death of seven security personnel.
“Our teams have informed us that we have lost seven heroes,” Turkish Interior Minister Suleiman Soylu said in a statement.
Soylu confirmed that the pilots were among the seven people killed in the accident.
The Turkish Interior Minister added that the plane was at an altitude of 2,200 meters (7,218 feet) and tumbled on Mount Artos.
The Turkish Interior Minister did not mention the causes of the crash, or the presence of other loss of life or injuries, according to the “Anatolia” agency.
The plane took off from Van Ferrett Airport two miles at (6.35 local time, 15.35 GMT).
The Turkish minister added that the plane is back in 2015, and has been conducting reconnaissance and monitoring missions in Van and Hakkari provinces since last Monday.
He explained that the pilots contacted the tower for the last time, when they were around the Pascal region at (10.32 pm local time, 19.32 GMT).
The Turkish Interior Minister revealed that at approximately (10:45 local time, 19:45 GMT) the plane disappeared from radar and communications stopped completely.
Soylu later arrived at the area where the plane crashed.