A firefighting helicopter crashed into a dam just before midnight with four people onboard while responding to a forest fire in Turkey’s western Izmir province, officials said early Sunday. The Anadolu Agency reported that the helicopter went down with a crew of four; Turkish Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said the aircraft crashed into the Tahtali Dam in the Menderes district after it lost contact with the team.
Yumakli said one of the four personnel, Erkinbek İsabekov, was rescued and hospitalized while search efforts continued for the other three — Mehmet Akif Tutuk, Oleg Agayev, and Ianshanlo Lamzar.
An Associated Press report on Monday said one pilot, a national of Kyrgyzstan, swam to safety following the accident late Saturday. The bodies of three other crew — a Turk and two Kyrgyz — have been located underwater. ABC News reported that the recovery had resumed on Monday after Sunday’s unsuccessful efforts. The night vision-equipped helicopter is reported to be stuck in mud 12 meters (36 feet) below the water’s surface.
The fire was controlled on Sunday. The Hürriyet Daily News reported that it took firefighters about 20 hours to contain the fire, involving 9 planes, 20 helicopters, 54 aerial water tankers, 20 water supply vehicles, 10 dozers, 10 first-response ground crews, and a total of around 500 personnel.
Helicopters.gg reported that Agriculture and Forestry Minister İbrahim Yumaklı visited the surviving co-pilot in the hospital and said his condition is stable. Journalists questioned the safety of the dam for firefighting helicopters, noting that a similar accident occurred in 2017, resulting in the deaths of five people. Minister Yumaklı said the cause will be determined after investigation, when authorities can assess whether there is any connection between the two incidents.
