An F-16 fighter jet belonging to the 9th Balıkesir Air Base Command in northwestern Turkey crashed along a highway shortly after take-off early this morning, killing its pilot, officials confirmed. The moment the plane hit the ground was recorded by drivers who witnessed the crash.
Turkey‘s defence ministry said the military plane had taken off on a mission when it lost radio contact and its tracking signal was lost, crashing to the ground at around 00:50 local time (22:50 CET). The exact cause of the accident will be determined once a technical investigation is completed.
Turkish daily Hürriyet reported that the fighter jet went down next to the road in the Karesi district, near the Istanbul-Izmir motorway, where the wreckage was scattered all over the area. Search and rescue teams later located parts of the fuselage and confirmed the death of the pilot, which was also announced by the governor of the province, İsmail Ustaoğlu, who confirmed that the crash occurred shortly after take-off.
The accident forced the closure of the motorway between Istanbul and Izmir
Local media reported that the point of impact was in the Naipli area, within the Karesi district, and that the accident forced the closure of a section of the Istanbul-Izmir motorway to traffic while emergency services secured the area and began investigation and recovery of the wreckage.
The Ministry of Defence later identified the pilot as Major İbrahim Bolat. Turkish Defence Minister Yaşar Güler issued a message expressing his condolences on the death, which was communicated to his family, who live in the Çiğli district of Izmir province.
The pilot killed in the F-16 crash was a member of a family of seven siblings, and it has been informed that he had previously lost one of his brothers; he was married to Ayşe Nilay Bolat and had a 10-year-old daughter named Nil. His body was transferred this morning to Izmir, where it is scheduled to be buried with military honours at the Kadifekale Martyrs’ Cemetery, following a funeral which, following the Muslim rite, will take place this afternoon at the Beşikçioğlu Mosque in Karşıyaka (Izmir).
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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