Underwater teams are searching a lake for a helicopter that crashed over the weekend while fighting a forest fire in western Turkey, state media reported Monday.
Four crew members were on board the firefighting aircraft when it crashed into the waters of the Tahtali Dam while fighting a fire in the Menderes area of Izmir.
A pilot, a Kyrgyz national, swam to safety after the accident late Saturday. Three other crew members – one Turkish and two Kyrgyz – remain unidentified.
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Smoke rises from a forest fire in the Menderes region of Izmir, Turkey, on September 17, 2023. Three passengers of a helicopter that crashed into a lake while fighting a forest fire are still missing. The pilot of the aircraft managed to swim to safety. (Lokman Ilhan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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The search continued on Monday after unsuccessful efforts on Sunday, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported. The helicopter equipped with night vision, which was collecting water to drop on the flames when it crashed, was reported to have been stuck in mud 36 feet below the surface.
The fire was extinguished on Sunday. Summer fires are common in Turkey, where dry vegetation and high temperatures and winds create ideal conditions for deadly fires.
