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Turkish military training plane missing

Xinhua, January 17, 2012

• A T-37C military training plane with two crew members on board got missing Monday afternoon, the Turkish general staff said.

  The plane lost contact with the Cigli Air Force Base in the western province of Izmir at about 16:05 (1405 GMT) on Monday after taking off, said the Turkish general staff in a statement posted on its website.

  "All contact with the T-37C type training plane was lost at about 16:05 on Monday while the plane was on a training mission in the Aliaga gulf," said the statement.

  Turkey's semi-official news agency Anatolia quoted Izmir Governor Cahit Kirac as saying that "According to eyewitnesses, the training plane crashed into the Aegean Sea about 7 to 8 kilometers north of Foca town at around 16:30 to 16:45 on Monday."

  A search and rescue operation, involving several ambulances, a CN-235 plane, a Cougar helicopter, three coast guard boats and a search and rescue ship of the Turkish navy, has begun in the region.

  However, so far the training plane has not been found, and the search and rescue operation is ongoing, according to the Turkish general staff.

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