Cyprus-Forum.com

[halil]

Search-and-rescue efforts are under way around the village of Kurucaova in the southern Turkish province of Kahramanmaras to find six people, including Grand Unity Party leader Muhsin Yazicioglu, whose helicopter crashed in the area yesterday. Although snowfall subsided, increasing fog hampered the efforts by reducing visibility in the area. Civil defense teams from the neighboring provinces joined gendarmerie forces and local villagers in the search-and-rescue efforts backed by helicopters. Turkish Interior Minister Besir Atalay, who went to the region after the accident, said that officials were unable to locate the helicopter since there was no device to beam an emergency signal in the helicopter. He also added that more than 2 thousand people were searching a large area to find wreckage of the helicopter. Soon after the incident, leaders of the political parties canceled their pre-election rallies. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also traveled to Kahramanmaras. A helicopter carrying Yazicioglu crashed in the southern province of Kahramanmaras at around 4pm yesterday. The helicopter was on its way from Kahramanmaras to the central province of Yozgat with five passengers and the pilot on board.

[halil]

Search and rescue teams in Turkey have finally reached the crash site of the helicopter that was carrying Turkish Grand Unity Party leader Muhsin Yazicioglu and 5 other people.
Unfortunately all aboard the helicopter were found dead.

The helicopter debris was located between Elmadag and Sisne village.
The helicopter was carrying six people including Mr. Yazicioglu to his second rally in the central Anatolian province of Yozgat when it crashed in the mountainous area due to snowy and stormy weather conditions.

Officials had been trying to reach the site of the crash but had been prevented from doing so due to severe winter weather conditions.