Four Turkish service members died when a military Sikorsky S-70 helicopter crashed on the outskirts of Malatya in eastern Turkey on November 12, 2026, the country’s Defense Ministry said.
The helicopter came down at about 18:45 local time in a neighborhood in Malatya’s Yeşilyurt district, according to local media. Police, firefighters and medical teams responded to the crash. Footage aired by Turkish broadcasters showed flames and smoke rising from the wreckage as emergency vehicles gathered nearby.
The Defense Ministry said it had yet to determine what caused the crash. Its initial statement identified the aircraft as an S-70 but gave no details about the mission or the roles of those aboard.
The Malatya chief public prosecutor’s office opened an investigation into the crash. A deputy chief prosecutor and two prosecutors have been assigned to the case, Turkey’s Anadolu Agency reported.
Turkey has operated Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopters for decades. Its armed forces already had more than 100 UH-60s in service in 2016, when Sikorsky and Turkish Aerospace Industries launched a program to build a version of the S-70i domestically under license.
The Turkish-built helicopter carries the designation T70. The program calls for 109 helicopters for six military and civilian operators, including Turkey’s land forces, air force and gendarmerie.
Turkish Aerospace delivered the first T70 to the gendarmerie in late 2022. The original order also included 20 helicopters configured for firefighting for Turkey’s forestry service.