All 12 dead amid wreckage of Turkish police helicopter crash

A police helicopter carrying officers, a judge and a soldier crashed because of bad weather in a mountainous region of southeastern Turkey on Tuesday, killing all 12 people on board, the country’s interior minister said.

Suleyman Soylu said search and rescue teams were sent to the area after the helicopter’s signal was lost. It took the rescue teams several hours to find the wreckage because of altitude, adverse weather conditions and low visibility.

The helicopter had been carrying seven police officers, a judge, a soldier and three crew members.

The helicopter disappeared 10 minutes after taking off from the town of Pulumur, in Tunceli province, the regional governor’s office said.

“It is being assessed that the helicopter crashed due to adverse weather conditions,” the governor’s office said in a statement.

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UPDATES:

8:45 a.m.: This article was updated with a report that all 12 aboard were found dead.

This article was first published at 4:40 a.m.