A firefighting aircraft belonging to the General Directorate of Forestry (OGM) has crashed in Croatia during a planned maintenance flight, the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry announced. The ministry confirmed that the pilot was killed in the incident.
According to the ministry’s statement, two AT802 model firefighting planes operated by OGM departed from the northwestern province of Çanakkale at 10.24 am local time (GMT+3) yesterday, heading to Zagreb for scheduled maintenance.
Due to adverse weather conditions, both aircraft made an overnight stop at Rijeka Airport. Today, at 5.38 pm, the two planes took off for Zagreb. However, worsening weather forced them to turn back to Rijeka.
“One of the planes landed safely at Rijeka Airport,” the statement said. “But radio contact with the other aircraft was lost at 18.25 pm local time (GMT+3) during its return route.”
Search and rescue efforts were launched in coordination with Croatian authorities. Later in the evening, Agriculture and Forestry Minister İbrahim Yumaklı confirmed that the wreckage had been located and the pilot was found dead.
"The wreckage of the OGM firefighting aircraft, which lost radio contact in Croatia, has been found. Unfortunately, our pilot has been martyred," Yumaklı said.
Further details about the incident have not yet been released. The ministry said updates would continue as more information becomes available. (VK)
