A Turkish firefighting plane crashed in Croatia on Thursday, killing its pilot as it attempted to return to Turkey, the country’s forestry minister said.
Hırvatistan’da telsiz irtibatı kesilen Orman Genel Müdürlüğümüze ait yangın söndürme uçağımızın enkazına Hırvatistan’ın Senj kenti yakınlarında ulaşılmıştır.
Elim kazada şehit olan pilotumuza Allah’tan rahmet, ailesine ve sevenlerine başsağlığı ve sabır diliyorum.
Orman… https://t.co/zf6O1gErIW
— İbrahim Yumaklı (@ibrahimyumakli) November 13, 2025
Forestry Minister İbrahim Yumaklı wrote on X that two Turkish AT802 firefighting aircraft lost contact with air traffic control while flying near the coastal town of Senj. One plane managed to land safely at Rijeka Airport, but the second went down, he said.
“The wreckage of our firefighting aircraft has been found near the Croatian town of Senj,” Yumaklı wrote, offering condolences to the pilot’s family.
The ministry said the aircraft had departed Turkey on Wednesday morning for scheduled maintenance in Zagreb but were forced by bad weather to stay overnight at Rijeka airport.
Both planes took off again at 5:38 p.m. local time on Thursday, but worsening weather forced them to turn back. Radio contact with one aircraft was lost at 6:25 p.m., prompting search and rescue efforts.
The crash comes just two days after a Turkish military cargo plane went down in Georgia, killing 20 service members returning from Azerbaijan. Turkish authorities have suspended all C-130 cargo flights as investigators look into the cause of the accident.
© Agence France-Presse