Military helicopter crash kills four in eastern Türkiye

MALATYA

Four Turkish soldiers were killed when an S-70 military helicopter crashed in the eastern province of Malatya on Nov. 12, the Defense Ministry said.

The aircraft went down in the Samanköy area of Yeşilyurt district. The cause of the crash had not been determined, the ministry said.

The ministry identified the pilots as Maj. Erdem Çimen and Maj. Orhun Pınar. The other two servicemen were aircraft technicians Hüseyin Zehir and Serkan Önder, both noncommissioned officers.

The Malatya Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation, assigning one deputy chief prosecutor and two prosecutors to the case.

Firefighters and medical teams were dispatched to the crash site.

Defense Minister Yaşar Güler offered condolences to the soldiers’ families in a message released by the ministry alongside photographs of the four servicemen.