ISTANBUL, Sept 3 (AFP) - All five people -- three Russians and two Turks -- aboard a Russian helicopter on lease to the Turkish Forestry Department were killed Friday when their aircraft crashed in the southwestern province of Mugla, officials said.
The men on board the NI-17 were two Russian pilots and one technician and a Turkish pilot and forestry worker, Baki Gencel, a spokesman for the Mugla governor`s office, told AFP.
"The helicopter crashed on its way back after dropping seven or eight forestry workers off near the site of a forest fire near the town of Milas," Gencel said.
The reason of the crash was not known.
The Anatolia News Agency identified the two Russian pilots as Vladimir Korobov and Mykola Koshelnik. It said the Russian technician was not yet identified.
The helicopter was part of a fleet of aircraft used by the Mugla forestry department to combat forest and brush fires that erupt frequently during the summer in the province that has coasts on the Aegean and Mediterranen seas.