Ankara — A Syrian military pilot whose aircraft crashed in Turkey near the countries’ border is in hospital having been found after a nine-hour search, the Anadolu news agency said Sunday.
According to the Turkish report, the pilot was recovered during an air and ground search and taken to a local hospital after the plane went down on Saturday night in the Turkish province of Hatay.
Anadolu, a state-run agency, did not give further details on the pilot’s health but said he was flying alone when the plane crashed.
A Syrian military source quoted by state television on Saturday said “contact was lost with a military aircraft on a reconnaissance mission near the Turkish border.”
The Syrian rebel group Ahrar Al-Sham told AFP that it had shot down a government plane “as it was overflying Idlib province (in northwestern Syria) and carrying out air strikes.”
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, quoted by Anadolu, said earlier that the cause of the crash was unknown, but he pointed to poor weather conditions at the time.
Dogan news agency said the pilot, who crashed his plane on Sunday, had been found around 40 km (25 miles) from the wreckage. He was first taken to a gendarmerie base and then to hospital.
Syrian state television quoted an army source on Saturday saying the air force had lost contact with a fighter jet on a mission near the Turkish border. It gave no details.
It was unclear why the aircraft had crashed, whether it had been attacked or suffered technical failure.
Combat operations by many militia and government forces come close to Turkey’s long frontier with Syria.
Turkey has been one of the foremost critics of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, and supports rebels fighting him in the country’s six-year-old war.
Syrian state media said on Saturday its forces had been expanding control over former Daesh-held villages in northwest Syria, an area close to Turkey’s Hatay region where the aircraft crashed.
The army’s gains follow a push to the south and east of the city of Al-Bab, which was captured by Turkish-backed rebels late last month. — Agencies
