Hopes dimming in copter crash involving party chief
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Hürriyet Daily News
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mart 27, 2009 00:00
ANKARA - Claims that the government has mismanaged search and rescue work are rising after initial statements from officials about the failure to find the wreckage of a helicopter carrying a political leader.
A helicopter carrying the Great Union Party, or BBP, leader Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu and five other people crashed Wednesday in the southeastern province of Kahramanmaraş. Yazıcıoğlu was traveling to Yozgat for an election rally. Before the accident he announced it was the first time that his party used a helicopter.
The helicopter crashed at 4 p.m. on Wednesday and the first signal was from an emergency call made via mobile phone by one of the victims, İsmail Güneş, was received at 4:22 p.m. On the phone, Güneş said; "There is snow and fog everywhere É My leg is broken. ... I am inside the helicopter. The others are silent. ... I guess they're dead." The emergency responder tried to calm Güneş, but the journalist responded: "Can't you find our location? We will freeze here," according to the recording of the emergency call.
Based on the signal, the land and air search and rescue teams including the Gendarmerie, police, civil defense and Turkish Armed Forces personnel were sent to the area to determine the location of the helicopter and search the snow-covered mountains to find passengers. The signal derived from base stations installed by mobile phone operators and the work was thus carried out in a large area and continued all through the night. But there were no results as the search efforts entered the 24th hour when the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review went to the press yesterday.
Both Interior Minister Beşir Atalay and Government Spokesman Cemil Çiçek said yesterday the government took the necessary measures and mobilized the required manpower, health personnel and helicopters to the area but harsh weather conditions hampered rescue efforts in the mountainous area where the search was underway. Atalay said the team was unable to find the helicopter because there was no device for emitting an emergency signal from the chopper.
No immediate action
Contradictory initial statements from officials on the condition of the party leader and the five other people as well as the failure in finding the exact location of the helicopter, meanwhile, has led to the controversy over the government’s mismanagement of the crisis. Doğan Ertuğruloğlu of the Search Rescue Research Association, or AKA, said the officials didn’t take immediate action in the incident and that the crash was not taken very seriously in the beginning.
"The weather conditions are harsh but the chopper should already have been reached by now. The government has well-equipped technological devices and manpower but the necessary personnel and technology weren’t mobilized to the area immediately. The incident wasn’t taken seriously at the beginning," he told the Daily News.
"There is also a problem in coordination. There may be some problems in the phone operations’ receiving the correct input from the base stations and making a correct comment in determining the coordinates of the helicopter. But even this situation doesn’t justify the hours of delay. It would be a miracle to find them alive," Ertuğruloğlu said. Saydun Gökşin of the Search and Recsue Association, or AKUT, which is also taking part in the rescue mission in Kahramanmaraş, said a substantial number of rescue personnel were sent to the area but the air support seemed to be deficient. "It may be because of the harsh weather conditions. If there was no fog the victims could be found earlier," Gökşin said.
Republican People’s Party, or CHP, leader Deniz Baykal said the failure to locate the wreck after 24 hours was sad.
The helicopter crashed at 4 p.m. on Wednesday and the first signal was from an emergency call made via mobile phone by one of the victims, İsmail Güneş, was received at 4:22 p.m. On the phone, Güneş said; "There is snow and fog everywhere É My leg is broken. ... I am inside the helicopter. The others are silent. ... I guess they're dead." The emergency responder tried to calm Güneş, but the journalist responded: "Can't you find our location? We will freeze here," according to the recording of the emergency call.
Based on the signal, the land and air search and rescue teams including the Gendarmerie, police, civil defense and Turkish Armed Forces personnel were sent to the area to determine the location of the helicopter and search the snow-covered mountains to find passengers. The signal derived from base stations installed by mobile phone operators and the work was thus carried out in a large area and continued all through the night. But there were no results as the search efforts entered the 24th hour when the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review went to the press yesterday.
Both Interior Minister Beşir Atalay and Government Spokesman Cemil Çiçek said yesterday the government took the necessary measures and mobilized the required manpower, health personnel and helicopters to the area but harsh weather conditions hampered rescue efforts in the mountainous area where the search was underway. Atalay said the team was unable to find the helicopter because there was no device for emitting an emergency signal from the chopper.
No immediate action
Contradictory initial statements from officials on the condition of the party leader and the five other people as well as the failure in finding the exact location of the helicopter, meanwhile, has led to the controversy over the government’s mismanagement of the crisis. Doğan Ertuğruloğlu of the Search Rescue Research Association, or AKA, said the officials didn’t take immediate action in the incident and that the crash was not taken very seriously in the beginning.
"The weather conditions are harsh but the chopper should already have been reached by now. The government has well-equipped technological devices and manpower but the necessary personnel and technology weren’t mobilized to the area immediately. The incident wasn’t taken seriously at the beginning," he told the Daily News.
"There is also a problem in coordination. There may be some problems in the phone operations’ receiving the correct input from the base stations and making a correct comment in determining the coordinates of the helicopter. But even this situation doesn’t justify the hours of delay. It would be a miracle to find them alive," Ertuğruloğlu said. Saydun Gökşin of the Search and Recsue Association, or AKUT, which is also taking part in the rescue mission in Kahramanmaraş, said a substantial number of rescue personnel were sent to the area but the air support seemed to be deficient. "It may be because of the harsh weather conditions. If there was no fog the victims could be found earlier," Gökşin said.
Republican People’s Party, or CHP, leader Deniz Baykal said the failure to locate the wreck after 24 hours was sad.