ISTANBUL: A Turkish firefighting plane crashed in Croatia on Thursday, killing the pilot, Turkiye’s forestry minister said, two days after another deadly crash involving a Turkish military plane that killed 20.
The accident occurred as two Turkish firefighting planes were trying to return home but lost contact with air traffic control, with one managing to land at a Croatian airport while the other crashed, Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli wrote on X.
“The wreckage of our firefighting aircraft... has been found near the Croatian town of Senj,” he wrote, referring to a town on the western coast, offering condolences to the family of “our pilot who was killed in this tragic accident.”
Earlier, in a post on X, the ministry said two AT802 firefighting planes left Turkiye on Wednesday morning for maintenance activities in Zagreb but bad weather forced them to stay overnight at Rijeka airport in the west.
They took off for Zagreb airport at 5.38 p.m. (1638 GMT) on Thursday but were forced back, it said.
“As they turned back, one of our aircraft landed at Rijeka airport, but radio contact with the other aircraft was lost at 6:25 pm,” it said, indicating search and rescue operations were under way.
The incident came just hours after Turkiye repatriated the bodies of 20 military personnel who were killed on Tuesday when a Turkish military cargo plane crashed in Georgia as it was returning from Azerbaijan.
Turkish investigators are looking into the cause, suspending all flights by its C-130 cargo planes as a precautionary measure.
Turkish firefighting plane crashes in Croatia, pilot killed: ministry
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Turkish firefighting plane crashes in Croatia, pilot killed: ministry
- Two Turkish firefighting planes were trying to return home but lost contact with air traffic control
UK police arrest former ambassador Peter Mandelson in probe into Epstein ties
- Former UK ambassador to the US arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office
LONDON: British police on Monday arrested Peter Mandelson, a former UK ambassador to the United States, in a misconduct probe stemming from his ties with Jeffrey Epstein.
London’s Metropolitan Police force said “officers have arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public office” at an address in north London.
It did not name Mandelson, in keeping with British police practice, but the suspect in the case has previously been identified as Mandelson.
Police are investigating Mandelson over documents suggesting he passed sensitive government information to Epstein a decade and a half ago. He does not face any allegations of sexual misconduct.
His arrest comes four days after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former Prince Andrew, was arrested on suspicion of a similar offense related to his friendship with Epstein.
Mandelson was fired from his diplomatic post in September after emails were published showing that he maintained a friendship with Epstein after the financier’s 2008 conviction for sex offenses involving a minor. When more details emerged in documents released by the US Justice Department last month, police opened a criminal probe.
