Crash deepens disaster-hit Turkey's woes

Television footage showed a column of smoke rising from the remote mountainous zone in Turkey's south.

Turkey's defense ministry issued a statement saying the aircraft on loan from Russia had taken off from Adana to help extinguish fires burning in Kahramanmaras Province.

A surveillance plane and a helicopter had been dispatched to the crash site, the ministry said.

Russian consular representatives and a defense ministry official were reportedly on their way to the area.

On the floods front, the government disaster agency AFAD said teams were combing through the rubble of dozens of homes that collapsed due to the floods that hit Black Sea regions on Wednesday after heavy rains.

In the village of Babacay in the northern province of Sinop, 40 houses and two bridges were destroyed by the floods, according to the state news agency Anadolu.

The latest death toll published on Saturday by the disaster agency stood at 58, and nine people were said to be in hospital.

Agencies Via Xinhua