Turkey says Syrian pilot ejected before jet crashed on border, rescued

Turkey’s state-run news agency says that rescue teams have found the Syrian pilot who ejected right before his jet crashed in Turkey near the Syrian border.

Turkey’s state-run news agency says that rescue teams have found the Syrian pilot who ejected right before his jet crashed in Turkey near the Syrian border.

Rescue teams found the Syrian pilot who ejected right before his jet crashed in Turkey. (AP File Photo)

Anadolu said that the pilot was found early Sunday in an exhausted state and taken to a hospital after a nine-hour search and rescue operation in the rain. He has been identified as a Syrian national but no name was given.

The jet crashed into the countryside in the southern Turkish border province of Hatay on Saturday, with witnesses claiming they had seen the pilot eject before the crash.

Syrian opposition military group Ahrar al-Sham said it had downed the plane.

Anadolu said the search and rescue operation was now over because the plane was a single-person aircraft.