Four people died on the spot – including the pilots and medical staff – after a helicopter crashed into a hospital building in Muğla province in western Turkey this morning, shortly after take-off.
Turkish news agencies reported that the aircraft, owned by the Ministry of Health, had taken off only moments earlier to pick up a patient in Antalya province, on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, when for reasons still under investigation it crashed into the top of a hospital just 400 metres from the take-off site.
Although the building was badly damaged, the helicopter crashed into a conference room which was empty at the time, preventing a bigger tragedy. The wreckage of the aircraft fell to the ground from a great height and was scattered all over the ground. The emergency services that were immediately dispatched to the crash site could only confirm the death of the two pilots, a doctor and a nurse who were on board.
Turkish health ministry sources attributed the accident for the time being to the dense fog covering the area at the time of impact, which could have dangerously reduced the pilots’ visibility. However, several Turkish media reported that, according to witnesses, the aircraft had already experienced problems on take-off, rocking from side to side until the pilots lost control and crashed into the hospital. In another recent helicopter accident in early December, six Turkish military personnel were killed when two helicopters collided in mid-air during a training flight.
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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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