A firefighting plane sent by Russia to assist with the wildfires in Turkey has crashed killing the 8 people onboard.
The airplane was confirmed by the Russian Defence Ministry to be an amphibious Beriev BE-200. The airplane had taken part in several successful missions in Turkey over the previous month.
The crash occurred in Adana province.
The governor of Kahramanmaras, a region next to the crash site, told reporters:
"We had dispatched a plane to the area but we lost communication with the plane a while ago and it crashed. The situation is very new. We dispatched many units to the area where the plane crashed."
Over the last few weeks, wildfires have devastated Turkey following record-breaking temperatures across the Mediterranean region. Eight other people are known to have died as a result of the fires in Turkey. Flash floods, also a result of the current climatic events, have also killed over 40 people in recent days in northern Turkey.
The fires which began in late July destroyed forests in the seaside provinces of Mugla and Antalya, though other fires have occurred across the country. In total, Turkey's forestry minister, Bekir Pakdemirli, said that almost 300 fires had been brought under control in just over two weeks.
Turkish autocratic leader Recep Erdogan was criticised earlier this month for his apparent failure to secure firefighting planes in Turkey. Instead, planes had to be brought in from surrounding countries, including Russia.
Among those to criticise Erdogan was opposition party leader Mursel Alban, of the main opposition Republican People's party, who said:
"There is a 300-room summer palace in Marmaris, but no planes to extinguish fires in Marmaris. The president and all his ministers should resign."
The comment being a jibe at allegations that Erdogan and his cronies have pocketed vast sums of public cash and used it to benefit themselves as opposed to the people of Turkey.
Climate scientists are convinced that the recent wildfires in the Mediterranean are the result of global warming, which is caused by the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil.
[h/t: euronews]
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