Land Forces
Turkey: S-70 Black Hawk military helicopter crashes in Malatya – all four on board killed
Four members of the Turkish Armed Forces were killed on Thursday evening when an S-70 Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Malatya province, eastern Turkey. Turkey’s Defence Ministry says the cause has not yet been determined.
Four members of the Turkish Armed Forces were killed on the evening of Thursday, November 12, when an S-70 Black Hawk helicopter crashed in the eastern province of Malatya. The helicopter came down at about 18:45 local time in the Samanköy area of the Yeşilyurt municipality. A fire broke out at the site and, according to first reports, spread to a nearby house.
Turkey’s Ministry of National Defence (MSB) confirmed in an announcement that the helicopter crashed “for a reason that has not yet been determined” and that all four service members on board were killed. The announcement says search and rescue teams reached the wreckage, and the ministry expressed condolences to the families of the dead, to the Turkish Armed Forces and to the Turkish nation.
In the announcement the MSB refers to the dead as “heroic comrades” who “fell as martyrs”, the wording (şehit) that Turkish authorities consistently use for service members killed on duty, whether in combat or in an accident.
The first pictures from the site
Video carrying the logo of the MHA agency, which circulated shortly after the crash, shows fire engines and police at the crash site and wreckage burning in several places, while residents watch the flames.
Malatya is one of the most important military areas of eastern Turkey. It is the seat of the Turkish army’s 2nd Army, which is responsible for the borders with Syria, Iraq and Iran, and of the Erhaç air base of the Turkish Air Force. The Turkish authorities have not yet given details of the mission the helicopter was performing.
The S-70 fleet in Turkey
The S-70 is the export version of Sikorsky’s American UH-60 Black Hawk and is a main transport helicopter for the Turkish Land Forces and the Gendarmerie. TUSAŞ produces under Sikorsky licence the T-70 version, which is based on the S-70i, while Turkish forces use S-70s in operations in the east and southeast of the country, on personnel transport flights and in search and rescue missions.
