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Turkey-registered plane crashes in Croatia reportedly killing the pilot

Croatian police say that a Turkey-registered plane has crashed in western Croatia

Croatia Plane Crash
Croatia Plane Crash (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

A Turkey-registered plane crashed in western Croatia on Thursday, police said, with local media reporting that the pilot had died.

The Air Tractor AT-802 disappeared from the radar shortly before 5 p.m. local time, an Interior Ministry statement said. Some 20 minutes later emergency services were informed that a plane was on fire near the town of Senj, close to the Adriatic Sea coastline, the statement said.

Police said the plane was flying from the northern port of Rijeka to the capital Zagreb and back.

No other details were immediately available. Air Tractor AT-802 planes are usually used in agriculture or for fire-fighting.

Croatia's HRT public broadcaster said the plane belonged to Turkey's forestry administration. The HRT report said rescue teams found the pilot's body after they extinguished the fire. No one else was on the plane, the report added.

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