Thursday, 26 March 2009Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that efforts were underway to find six people including Grand Unity Party (BBP) leader Muhsin Yazicioglu whose helicopter crashed in the southern province of Kahramanmaras on Wednesday afternoon.
Erdogan, who visited the province following the accident, held a news conference together with Interior Minister Besir Atalay, Director General of the Security Department Oguz Kagan and Deputy Parliament Speaker Nevzat Pakdil.
"The helicopter carrying Yazicioglu and five other people took off from Caglayan town of Kahramanmaras on March 25 and headed for the central province of Yozgat. It crashed near the town of Goksun. Search-and-rescue efforts started immediately after Ismail Gunes, a reporter of the IHA News Agency who was on board the helicopter, called officials at around 15.45 local time and informed them that their helicopter crashed. The crisis center took urgent action and provided the necessary coordination with all relevant institutions. An AS 535 search-and-rescue helicopter, two UH 60 Sikorsky helicopters and an ES 532 search-and-rescue helicopter were sent to the area. They tried to locate wreckage of the helicopter despite bad weather conditions like snowfall and fog. They departed from the area only for refuelling. They were called off at 22.00 local time after weather conditions deteriorated," he said.
Erdogan said two thousand strong men, including police teams, military troops and village guards, participated in Thursday's efforts to locate the wreckage of the chopper, but the search and rescue teams had been hampered by thick fog and blizzard.
"We are deploying all means and instruments at the state's disposal in a great effort to take a result but the vast search area and bad weather conditions are setting us back," Erdogan told reporters. |
Thursday, 26 March 2009
KAHRAMANMARAS (A.A)
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