MOSCOW, August 14. /TASS/. The Russian Defense Ministry’s amphibious fire-fighting aircraft crashed while landing in Turkey, with eight people on board, the Defense Ministry told reporters on Saturday.

"On August 14, 2021, at about 15.00 Moscow time, a Russian Be-200 plane crashed while landing after accomplishing the task of extinguishing wildfires in the Republic of Turkey firefighting near the city of Adana," the ministry said.

The Defense Ministry added that there were five Russian servicemen and three Turkish representatives, who were pointing out wildfire locations to the crew, aboard the aircraft.

A Russian Defense Ministry commission has been dispatched to the crash site to establish the causes of the tragedy.

On July 8, a Be-200 amphibious aircraft of the Russian Naval Aviation was deployed to Turkey to help extinguish wildfires. The crew had been trained at the Naval Aviation Combat Employment and Retraining Center in Yeysk (Krasnodar Region) and had practical experience in performing missions like that.

The Be-200 is the world’s largest amphibious aircraft designed to extinguish fires, including those in hard-to-reach areas. Its water drop capacity is 12 tonnes of water.