A Turkish military S-70 helicopter crashed in Malatya province in eastern Türkiye on the evening of November 12, 2026, killing the four personnel on board, Türkiye’s Ministry of National Defence said. According to NTV, the ministry said the helicopter crashed “for a reason not yet determined.” UPI reported that the ministry described the crash as an accident.

Where and when

  • The helicopter came down in the Samanköy area of Yeşilyurt district at about 6:45 p.m. local time, according to NTV and Türkiye Today. Birgün gave about 6:40 p.m. and placed the site near the Samanköy container settlement.
  • A fire broke out at the crash site and spread to a nearby house before emergency crews put it out (Hürriyet, Birgün). Hürriyet reported that a piece of the helicopter knocked down the garden wall of a house. The sources Lens read reported no casualties on the ground.
  • Teams worked at the site until about 2 a.m., Hürriyet reported.

Those killed

The ministry named the four, as reported by NTV, Hürriyet and haberler.com:

  • Army Pilot Maj. Erdem Çimen, 41
  • Army Pilot Maj. Orhun Pınar, 37
  • Aircraft and helicopter technician Senior Master Sgt. Hüseyin Zehir, 34
  • Aircraft and helicopter technician Senior Sgt. Serkan Önder, 27

The ages are as reported by NTV.

The aircraft and unit

Türkiye Today described the S-70 as part of Sikorsky’s Black Hawk family. Birgün reported that the helicopter belonged to the 2nd Land Aviation Regiment and was on a mission flight. According to Türkiye Today, the ministry did not disclose the mission or how many personnel were aboard in its first statement.

Investigation

The Malatya Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation and assigned a deputy chief prosecutor and two public prosecutors to it, NTV, Hürriyet and haberler.com reported. Police and military officials examined the site. No cause has been announced.

Reactions

Defence Minister Yaşar Güler, Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz, Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş, Chief of General Staff Gen. Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu and party leaders including Özgür Özel and Devlet Bahçeli issued condolences (NTV, Birgün, haberler.com). Burhanettin Duran, the presidency’s communications director, said: “Our condolences to the nation,” according to UPI.

Sources and notes

Sources: NTV, November 12, 2026 (Turkish); Hürriyet, November 12 (Turkish); Birgün, November 12 (Turkish); haberler.com, November 13 (Turkish); Türkiye Today, November 12; UPI, November 13. Notes: the ministry’s statement was read as quoted in Turkish by NTV and Hürriyet, and the English renderings of its wording and of the ranks are Lens’s. The ministry’s own website was not read. The text shared with Lens described the crash site as near an Air Force command base; none of the sources Lens read mention an Air Force base or command, and Birgün attributes the helicopter to the Army’s 2nd Land Aviation Regiment. A search summary of another Turkish report described the flight as a training flight; Lens did not identify that outlet. Lens has not included speculation about the cause. Thumbnail photo: a Turkish Army Sikorsky S-70 Black Hawk on display at Teknofest 2021 at Istanbul Atatürk Airport, by CeeGee, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; cropped. Illustrative: it shows the same helicopter type, not the aircraft that crashed.

Image: CeeGee (CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons.