Search and rescue

Head of the Department for Emergency Situations, Raed Arafat, announced today that three new mountain response bases will be created following the purchase, through the 'Vision 2020' project, of six light helicopters, three of which were handed over today.

Airbus Helicopters Romania has completed the delivery of the first three of the H135 helicopters to the General Aviation Inspectorate, with the next three deliveries scheduled by mid-2021, the company announced on Thursday.

Rescue teams on Monday were still searching for a two-seater training aircraft that went off the radar at noon on Sunday in the area of Miliotades, in the Mitsikeli mountain range in Ioannina, northwestern Greece.

The only passenger on board was its pilot, a 32-year-old Iraqi national.

A Turkish airline professional from Istanbul rediscovered his old interest and has become an amateur radio buff amid the coronavirus pandemic.

A joint search and rescue exercise dubbed "SALAMIS - 02/21" was conducted on Monday between Cyprus and Greece.

The exercise took place within the Republic of Cyprus' area of responsibility for search and rescue operations, and saw the participation of the Greek Frigate Hydra and an AW-139 helicopter of the Cyprus National Guard General Staff Air Command.

Greece's Coast Guard said Tuesday it had found the three men who went missing when they jumped out of a migrant boat while approaching the island of Lesvos.

The migrants were located on a coastal area on the south of the island during a search and rescue operation that located 24 people and the body of one man.

Authorities were alerted to the missing men by other rescuees.

A Palau-flagged dry cargo ship sank off the coast of Turkey's Black Sea province of Bartın on Jan. 17, according to an official.

Rescue workers managed to save six crew members and reached the body of one other on the Arvin, which sank off the coast of Bartın province, said Bartın Governor Sinan Güner.

 A Russian-flagged cargo ship sank off Turkey's Black Sea coast on Jan. 17 and emergency workers were out rescuing the crew, an official said.

The ship, named Arvin, sunk off the Inkumu Coast of the northern province Bartin, said Gov. Sinan Güner.

Güner added that rescue efforts are underway for an estimated 15 crew members stranded in three lifeboats.

At least two people have died after a light commercial vehicle was swept away by floodwaters in the western province of İzmir.

Due to heavy rainfall, a stream in the province of İzmir's Menderes district overflowed on Dec. 13, and the vehicle carrying five people started drifting away as it attempted to cross the stream.

A search and rescue operation has been launched in the eastern Aegean Sea after a dinghy carrying migrants either sank or overturned off the Greek island of Lesvos, the Greek coast guard said Wednesday.