Flood rescue efforts bring Turkish choppers on improvised landing pads

July 23, 2013 Helicopters

David Cenciotti

On Jul. 19, heavy flood and landslides in Turkey’s southern Hatay city caused 5 dead and 12 wounded.

The collapse of a bridge over the local highway closed the area by land transport.

As a consequence, the Turkish Ministry of Defense dispatched a Cougar and a Sikorsky S-70 helicopter from Incirlik Air Base to the region, to provide search and rescue and medical evacuation missions.

Image credit: Turkish MoD

H/T to Arda Mevlutoglu for the heads-up

About David Cenciotti

David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.

IronButterfly says:

July 24, 2013 at 7:57 PM

I believe that this city is also the city that was once called Antioch during New Testament times. The city that the apostle Paul was based out of for his missionary journeys.