Russian Defense Ministry confirms crew of firefighting plane crashed in Turkey died

Earlier in the day, the country's forestry department said that a Russian-leased Be-200 firefighter aircraft crashed while extinguishing a fire in the vicinity of the city of Kahramanmaras. The NTV broadcaster reported that there were no survivors.

"All those on board the Russian Be-200 aircraft that had crashed in the Republic of Turkey, including five crew members from the Russian military and three Turkish citizens, who were indicating the location of fires, died," the statement says.

The ministry and the Russian embassy in Ankara sent their teams to the scene to investigate the circumstances of the crash.

The Turkish Defense Ministry also dispatched a helicopter from the Incirlik air base and a plane from Konya airport to the crash site to support the search and rescue operation.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu later expressed his condolences to the Russian and Turkish people over the crash.

"I am deeply saddened to learn of the deaths of the Turkish and Russian crew members in the tragic plane crash that happened during the extinguishing mission in Kahramanmaras. We express our condolences to the Turkish and Russian people. Their heroic sacrifices will not be forgotten!" the minister wrote in Russian and Turkish on his Twitter.