Four Russians were among passengers of helicopter that crashed in Istanbul

MOSCOW, March 10. /TASS/. Four Russians were killed in a helicopter crash in Istanbul, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Crisis Management Center said on its Twitter page on Friday.

"Turkey - five people, including four Russians, died while two persons were injured as a result of a helicopter crash in Istanbul," the Twitter message said.

It was reported earlier on Friday that a helicopter carrying up to seven people, including four Russians, had crashed in an Istanbul suburb. The passengers included Salim Ozen, the CEO of Vitra Russia - the Russian branch of Eczacibasi Group engaged in the sale of tiles, bathroom and lavatory equipment.

The press office of Eczacibasi Group said the passengers included Russian citizens Alexander Vanin, Igor Kochergin, Lyudmila Chuprova and Yelena Badragan.</s>Share this article with Google Plus

Two soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash at a US army base.

Officials at Fort Campbell confirmed an Apache helicopter crashed on Friday night.

The soldiers’ names have not been released before their families are notified of their deaths.

They were members of the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault).

Fort Campbell says the crash occurred during training.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.</s>(Update on helicopter crash)…The Marine CH-53E Super Stallion went down in the desert Tuesday afternoon.

All four crewmembers were killed in the crash north of Ocotillo and Plaster City. The Marine Corps says the crew was with the Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 465, Marine Aircraft Group 16, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. They had flown out of the Twenty Nine Palms to practice making landings in unimproved terrain in the desert. The crewmembers lost in the crash have been identified. They were Pilots Captain Samuel Schultz of Huntington Valley, Pennsylvania. And 1st Lt. Samuel Phillips of Pinehurst, North Carolina. The crew chiefs were Gunnery Srgt. Derrick Holley of Dayton, Ohio, and Lance Corporal Taylor Conrad of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.</s>Two killed, three injured in Morganton crash</s>EL CENTRO, Calif. -- The four Marines who died in a Marine Corps helicopter crash during a training mission in El Centro Tuesday have been identified.

Military officials say Capt. Samuel A. Schultz, 28, of Huntington Valley, Pennsylvania; First Lt. Samuel D. Phillips, 27, of Pinehurst, North Carolina; Gunnery Sgt. Derik Holley, 33, of Dayton, Ohio; and Lance Cpl. Taylor J. Conrad, 24, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, all died in the crash.

According to officials, the CH-53E Stallion helicopter took off from the Strategic Expeditionary Landing Field at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms to conduct squadron training.
• Miramar Marine killed in helo crash was a husband and father

The crash happened roughly 15 miles west of El Centro around 2:35 p.m. Tuesday.

The cause of the crash is currently under investigation.</s>DEVELOPING: Massive fire breaks out at Taksim First Aid Hospital in Istanbul, Turkey. pic.twitter.com/hVDF2c0a1u</s>Sign up for one of our email newsletters.

SAN DIEGO — A Marine helicopter crashed during a Southern California training mission and all four crew members were believed to be killed, the military said.

The CH-53E Super Stallion went down shortly after 2:30 p.m. Tuesday near El Centro, a few miles from the U.S.-Mexico border.

The helicopter was with the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing out of the Miramar air station in San Diego, according to a base press statement.

The nearby Naval Air Facility El Centro messaged that the crash site was north of Plaster City, west of El Centro.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

The names of the crewmembers will be withheld until 24 hours after their relatives are notified, the Miramar base said.

Tuesday's California crash is the deadliest involving a Marine aircraft since a KC130T transport plane went down in Mississippi last July, killing 15 Marines and a sailor.

The California crash also occurred on the same day that a Marine Harrier jet crashed during takeoff from an airport in the East African nation of Djibouti. The pilot managed to eject and was being medically evaluated, military officials said.

The CH-53E Super Stallion is the largest helicopter in the U.S. military. It is used for minesweeping and transport and can carry dozens of troops and tons of cargo.

Two years ago, 12 Marines died when two of the helicopters collided off the coast of Oahu in Hawaii.

Last October, a CH-53E helicopter crashed and burned in Okinawa but nobody was injured.

In 2005, 31 people died when a CH-53E helicopter went down in Iraq during a sandstorm.</s>With its architectural magnificence, touristic spots and cultural wonders, Istanbul is one of the most popular travel destinations in the world. Apart from being home to millions of people, the city of Istanbul is also home to hundreds of thousands of stray cats.

The stray cats of Istanbul, which you can come across on every street in every district of Istanbul, are taken care by the locals, shopkeepers and even by tourists.Animal lovers show great affection to their four-legged friends, often giving them names. It is a common sight in Istanbul to see cats who love their freedom in the streets in front of shops, resting on the banks and looking for a piece of food.

"Kubbe" [Dome] in Fatih is famous for its cats. Shopkeeper Hüseyin Çoşkun said the cats in Fatih are friendlier than the people.

Explaining that the cats get along with people in the most adorable way possible, Çoşkun said: "When I first came here, the first thing that I realized was the enormous number of stray cats in the neighborhood. When people see us taking care of the cats they tell us that cats are our visitors. But in fact, cats own this neighborhood and we are the visitors because they were already here when we first came." Çoşkun described the stray cats as "the ornaments of Istanbul" and said Istanbul cannot be the same without its cats.

Faruk Akkuş, who owns a shop in the historic district of Beyoğlu, said the shopkeepers in the neighborhood not only give cat food to the cats but also share their own meals. He said Şişko (Fatty) the Cat, which he feeds in front of his shop, attracts the attention of tourists as well.

"Şişko comes early, long before I open the shop and waits for me next to the door. When I open the door, he walks into the shop, cleans himself, eats his food and rests for a while. Around noon, he wakes up and strolls around until the time we close the shop. He usually sleeps all day. As far as we know, he is 18 years old and he is one of the oldest residents of the neighborhood. Everybody knows Şişko and he knows everybody. He walks in and out each and every shop around here", said Akkuş. Berkant Kaya, who runs a music shop in Taksim, feeds and takes care of two stray cats named Domino and Ponçik.

"Some customers come in just because I have two cats in the store. Domino and Ponçik are our biggest customer attraction."

Kaya continued: "These cats are not like the house cats in Europe. They are free: They can come and go as they please. They are no strings attached. No one disturbs them and they sleep, rest and eat wherever they like."</s>The incident took place at around 10 a.m. local time on Thursday (09:00 GMT) about two kilometers (1.2 miles) from the small aerodrome of Libourne, according to the France Bleu radio station.

READ MORE: US Marine Corps Investigate Helicopter Crash in California, Four Thought Dead

Both men inside the rotorcraft were killed immediately.

An engine failure may have caused the accident.</s>ANKARA (Reuters) - A Syrian opposition activist and her journalist daughter have been found murdered in their apartment in Istanbul, the Istanbul police department said on Friday.

The bodies of 60-year-old Orouba Barakat and her 22-year-old daughter Halla were found overnight in their apartment in Istanbul's Uskudar neighborhood in the Asian side of the city.

 Turkish media reports said Orouba Barakat was investigating alleged torture in prisons run by the Syrian government. It said she had initially lived in Britain, then the United Arab Emirates before coming to Istanbul.

 "The hand of tyranny and injustice assassinated my sister Doctor Orouba and her daughter Halla in their apartment in Istanbul," Orouba's sister Shaza wrote on Facebook, adding that they were stabbed to death.

 "Orouba wrote headlines in the first page and she pursued criminals and exposed them. Her name and her daughter's name, Hala, now made first page headlines," Shaza added.

 Since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Turkey has become home to almost three million Syrian refugees, many of them opponents of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

 

 (Reporting by Ece Toksabay)
A helicopter crash in Istanbul kills five and injures seven.