Türkiye has asked Russia to lease a Be-200 amphibious aircraft so that the crew of the airliner, equipped for firefighting, will help their Turkish colleagues fight forest fires that have engulfed the province of Izmir, Turkish Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı said.
"This aircraft will make the work of our specialists much easier. Last year, we received positive results from working with it. At the moment, along with reserve forces, we have 26 aircraft, 105 helicopters, 14 UAVs... The aircraft is very important for us due to its power and the volume of water it drops on the fire",
Ibrahim Yumakli said.
The crews of Russian Be-200s are not new to Türkiye. A year earlier, the crews of two such aircraft of the Russian Emergencies Ministry also took part in extinguishing forest fires. They received gratitude for this work from the country's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish news agency Anadolu recalls.
The Turkish Minister of Agriculture personally met the airliner, which landed at Izmir airport. He said that the aircraft, capable of carrying up to 12 tons of water, would remain in the country until the end of October, since Turkish firefighters have not been able to completely cope with the forest fires raging in the province since June. However, they managed to avoid significant damage.
