Two people were killed when a military plane crashed while on a training flight in the central Turkey’s province of Kayseri, the Ministry of National Defence has confirmed.
The plane, a SF-260D light aircraft, had taken off from the 12th Air Transport Main Base Command in Kayseri for a training flight when it crashed into fields, Turkish media reported citing defence ministry sources. Although several rescue teams were immediately dispatched to the scene, they could only confirm the death of the two occupants of the aircraft, who were killed instantly due to the force of the impact, which caused the plane to immediately burst into flames, as security camera footage shows.
Eyewitnesses reported that the plane suddenly changed direction as it was falling to avoid hitting several people who were working on the fields in the area at the time. One of those workers, Salih Içer, told the Turkish news agency Anadolu that the plane was flying towards the city of Kayseri when it flew over them before crashing to the ground.
‘After turning around, the plane lost control and made no noise. It came straight towards us. I think (the pilot) saw us as it was coming towards us. We saw how it came down. He crashed nose down because he saw us. It exploded as soon as it came down. We tried to help, but we couldn’t because of the fire. There were 5 children in a car at the beginning of the (crop) field, and there were 15 people working on the field when it came towards us. It fell with its nose down so as not to hit us,’ the man said.
The causes of the crash are not yet known and are still under investigation, but last January another military aircraft – in that case a C-160 – which had taken off from the same air base in central Turkey, almost crashed due to a technical failure. Fortunately, on that occasion the aircraft suffered only minor damage and no loss of life was reported.
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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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