Syrian warplane crashes near border with Turkey - Turkish PM

ANKARA. KAZINFORM A Mig-23 fighter jet of the Syrian Air Force crashed on Saturday in the area bordering Turkey, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on the HaberTurk TV channel, according to TASS.

"The plane is supposed to be a Mig-23 of the Syrian air force," he said. "The pilot is believed to have bailed out. The plane crashed on the Syrian side of the frontier, but the pilot may have come down either on the Syrian or Turkish side. We have no precise information."

Turkish rescue teams and police rushed to the area where the fuselage had presumably fallen, the prime minister said.

The debris could be scattered nearby the (Turkish) town of Samandag in the Hatay region, near the border with Syria, he added.

Hatay regional authorities say neither pilot nor debris has been found.

Photo: © Konstantin Machulsky