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A Turkish Air Tractor AT 802 aircraft crashed today in the town of Krivi Put, near Senj, Croatia, Croatian media reported.
The portals Indeks and 24 sata report that the pilot’s body has been found, and that the fire at the crash site has been extinguished.
Croatian Radio Television (HRT) also reported that, according to their information, rescuers made their way to the crash site around 18 p.m. and found the aircraft in flames, and that only the pilot was on board, whose body was found.
As HRT has learned, rescuers made their way to the crash site at around 18 p.m. and found the aircraft in flames.
Apparently, only the pilot was on the plane.
In addition to the plane that crashed, there was another one of the same type that reported the position where the plane crashed, according to HRT.
N1 Croatia reports that the Lika-Senj Police Department confirmed that a plane with Turkish markings disappeared from radar at 16:53.
“The plane has been found. Firefighters have been sent, now the Accident Investigation Agency and all other services will arrive. We don’t know if the pilot has been found,” Davor Spevec from the Civil Protection told the 24sata portal.
The Civil Protection Directorate of the Croatian Ministry of the Interior (MUP) said that the Civil Protection Operations Center received information from Croatian Air Navigation Control at 16:53 about the disappearance from radar of the Turkish aircraft Air Tractor AT-802, which was on a round-trip flight Rijeka-Zagreb-Rijeka, and that a search and rescue operation for the aircraft had been launched.
“After that, at 17:11 p.m., the 112 County Center in Gospić received a report of a burning plane crash at the Krivi Put location and immediately notified the emergency services, and the police, firefighters, emergency medical services, and the coordinator at the location – the head of the Gospić Regional Civil Protection Service – were sent to the field,” said the Civil Protection Directorate of the Croatian Ministry of the Interior, N1 Croatia reports.
This media outlet states that it has unofficially learned that two Turkish Air Tractors were flying from Rijeka to Zagreb, but that they turned around due to fog, and that one landed at the airport on the island of Krk, while the other disappeared.
HRT reports that according to Flightradar data, it was a plane belonging to the General Directorate of Forestry of Turkey.
The media outlet also states that a Croatian police helicopter was searching for the plane, and that according to Flightradar data, a Croatian police Leonardo AW139 helicopter took off at 17:05 from Lučko towards the Lika and Gorski Kotar areas.
The helicopter has since flown over the areas of Slunj, Modruš, Brinje and Senj, and at around 18 pm it was seen over Josipdol.
The Croatian Ministry of Defense confirmed that it was not a Croatian Air Force aircraft or crew, reports the Indeks portal.
“Due to great media interest, we are informing the public that in the case of the Air Tractor disappearing from radar in the Lika-Senj County area, it is not an aircraft or crew of the Croatian Air Force, or the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia,” the Croatian Ministry of Defense said.
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