Turkish Warplane Crashes in Syrian Territorial Waters

Hunt on for two Turkish crewmen but contradictory reports emerge of what brought down F-4 plane

By Anissa Haddadi: Subscribe to Anissa's RSS feed

June 22, 2012 4:12 PM GMT

A Turkish military aircraft has crashed in Syrian territorial waters off its southeastern coast.

Rescuers are searching for the two F-4 crewmen, the Turkish state news agency Anatolia said.

The Turkish military said controllers lost radar and radio contact with the plane after it took off from Erhac airport in the eastern Turkey province of Malatya. The province borders Syria.

Follow us

Follow @IBTimesUK

Conflicting reports on what caused the crash have emerged.

NCC Turk television said Turkey was in contact with Syrian authorities in a bid to coordinate the rescue mission but the Turkish daily Hurriyet said the two crew had been rescued by the Turkish military.

The London-based Al-Mayadeen TV station quoted Turkish sources saying the jet had been shot down by Syrian air defences.

Eyewitnesses in the northern Syrian town of Latakia told the BBC: "Syrian air defences shot down an unidentified aircraft near the town of Ras al-Baseet."