The Russian water bombing plane crashed with 8 people on board, but did not survive

A Russian military water bombing plane has crashed in southern Turkey on Saturday, August 14, with eight people on board. The Russian news agency reported that there were five Russian servicemen and three Turks on board. None of the team members survived, the same sources said.

The Turkish state television station DRT reported that the plane had lowered its cargo to put out a fire in the Kahramanmaras area. The circumstances of the accident are currently unknown. Turkish television channels broadcast images showing smoke billowing from an area difficult to reach from a mountain range.

The aircraft, the Periv-200, was leased by Russia to the Directorate General of Forests in Turkey, which is being used to combat the intense fire that has ravaged southern Turkey in recent weeks. Due to the lack of infrastructure to fight the fire, Ankara was forced to lease several aircraft to Israel and, therefore, to Russia. Spain also sent a water bombing plane to help.

Eight people were killed in a fire that burned the country’s southern coast from late July to early August. Authorities announced this week that most of the blasts had been extinguished, but new fires have been reported in recent days, such as Kahramanmaras or Kanakale (west).