Four soldiers were killed yesterday after a military helicopter crashed while trying to make an emergency landing in Istanbul, according to the Turkish city’s governor, Ali Yerlikaya.
The soldiers succumbed to their injuries after being taken to hospital, he said from the accident site in Cekmekoy district.
“Unfortunately four of our soldiers became martyrs,” Yerlikaya told reporters.
He said no other military personnel or civilian had been injured after the helicopter ploughed to the ground in the Cekmekoy district.
The incident happened around 6.51pm (1551 GMT), he said in televised comments.
Images on Turkish television earlier showed thick black smoke emanating from behind a white wall at the site on the Asian side of Istanbul.
Yerlikaya said the Istanbul public prosecutor had launched an investigation into the cause of the crash.
Broadcaster CNN Turk reported that it crashed on an empty playground in a residential area.
The pilot had wanted to make an emergency landing, the governor said.
Television pictures showed the wreck of the aircraft and firefighters trying to tackle a blaze at the scene.
Four Turkish soldiers were killed last November after a military helicopter crashed in another residential area of Istanbul, hitting a four-storey building.
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