MINSK, 2 November (BelTA) – A welcome ceremony for Belarusian firefighters, who have come back home after fighting fires in Turkey for six months, took place at the Lipki airfield near Minsk on 2 November, BelTA has learned.
A Mi-8 helicopter of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry was dispatched to Turkey in April. A team of seven people – pilots and technicians led by Tadeush Kursevich – came back to Belarus on board the helicopter on 2 November. First Deputy Emergencies Minister Alexander Khudoleyev, friends and families of the firefighters came to welcome them back.
The team spent six months in Turkey battling forest fires in difficult conditions of the mountains and hot climate. In the period the helicopter performed 121 combat missions and 490 water drops and transported 281 passengers.
As many as 21 aviation specialists of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry worked in Turkey over the six months. The Belarusian Emergencies Ministry has worked together with the Turkish Forestry Ministry for five years already.
