Syrian pilot of plane that crashed on Turkish border found alive
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The pilot of a military plane that crashed in the Turkey-Syria border region Saturday night has been found alive.
A search and rescue team found the pilot, a Syrian national, early Sunday morning after a 9-hour search in the Antakya area of Turkey’s Hatay province, 35 kilometres from the Syrian border, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
The pilot has been taken to hospital suffering from exhaustion, security sources told Anadolu. Hospital sources, who asked not to be named, identified the pilot as Mehmet Sufhan, aged 56, Anadolu reported.
Ahrar al-Sham, an armed Syrian rebel group, claimed to have shot down the plane. They released a video allegedly depicting the moment their forces shot down the jet in the northern Syrian province of Idlib, close to the Turkish border.
Syrian military sources confirmed to state-run SANA news that they had lost contact with one of their planes carrying out a reconnaissance mission near the Turkish border.
The cause of the crash is unknown at present but Turkish officials said there were no concerns of border violations.
Turkey shot down a Russian plane in November 2015, claiming it had violated Turkish airspace.
A search and rescue team found the pilot, a Syrian national, early Sunday morning after a 9-hour search in the Antakya area of Turkey’s Hatay province, 35 kilometres from the Syrian border, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
The pilot has been taken to hospital suffering from exhaustion, security sources told Anadolu. Hospital sources, who asked not to be named, identified the pilot as Mehmet Sufhan, aged 56, Anadolu reported.
Syrian military sources confirmed to state-run SANA news that they had lost contact with one of their planes carrying out a reconnaissance mission near the Turkish border.
The cause of the crash is unknown at present but Turkish officials said there were no concerns of border violations.
Turkey shot down a Russian plane in November 2015, claiming it had violated Turkish airspace.