Judge among 12 killed in Turkey helicopter crash
Diyarbakir (Turkey) April 18 (IANS/AKI) A police helicopter crashed in a remote mountainous area of eastern Turkey on Tuesday killing all 12 people on board including a judge Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said.
The chopper s other passengers were police officers and three crew member Turkish daily Hurriyet quoted the governor s office in Tunceli province as saying.
Contact was lost with the Sikorsky S-70 Blackhawk-type helicopter at 11.50 a.m. Soylu told journalists.
Reaching the wreckage of the helicopter took two and a half hours he said.
The Turkish Air Force dispatched a CN235 type aircraft to detect the location of the debris Hurriyet reported.
Heavy fog in the region made the rescue operation difficult Turkish media reports stated.
The helicopter disappeared 10 minutes after taking off from the town of Pulumur in Tunceli province the regional governor s office said.
Tunceli province is in the eastern Anatolia region of Turkey about 100 km northwest of Diyarbakir.
--IANS/AKI
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