Defense ministry officials in Greece say an air force fighter jet has crashed into the eastern Aegean Sea after returning from a patrol, and it is unclear whether the pilot survived.

The officials told state-run television that the Mirage 2000-5 crashed Thursday north of the island of Skyros. They gave no information about the possible cause of the crash.

Patrolling has intensified in recent weeks amid a spike in tensions between Greece and Turkey and near-daily mock dogfights in disputed airspace.

Greek navy ships and army helicopters are searching for the missing pilot. </s> ATHENS, Greece: A Greek air force fighter jet has crashed into the Aegean Sea after returning from a patrol, killing the pilot, Defense Ministry officials said.

The officials said the single-seat Mirage 2000-5 crashed Thursday north of the island of Skyros, in the central Aegean. They gave no information about the possible cause of the crash.

Patrolling has intensified in recent weeks amid a spike in tensions between Greece and Turkey and near-daily interceptions and mock dogfights in disputed airspace around Greek islands facing Turkey’s coastline.

The pilot’s death was announced by Defense Minister Panos Kammenos after Greek navy ships and army helicopters had taken part in the search for the pilot.

“A Greek pilot joins the pantheon of heroes. He fell in the defense of our national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Kammenos said in a message posted on Twitter.—AP </s> A Greek Mirage 2000-5 fighter jet has gone down 9 miles northeast of the island of Skyros in the Aegean Sea. A search and rescue operation is underway with helicopters and sea vessels. According to initial reports, the jet was part of a squadron intercepting Turkish jets that had violated Greek national airspace by infringing the Athens FIR. The pilot of the aircraft is missing. The Hellenic Airforce General Staff released a press statement:

On Thursday 12 April 2018 at 12:15, there an M2000-5 aircraft went missing, nine (9) nautical miles north-east of Skyros Island.

Investigations are being carried out to locate it.

Mayor of Skyros expresses concern

The mayor of the island, Miltiadis Chatzigiannakis, speaking to protothema.gr said: “So far we know that an aircraft of our airforce has gone missing, which has probably fallen and at the moment we have launched rescue crews to locate our pilot. There is a serious concern on the island, since we all want our pilot to be safe. We know that the aircraft was part of an operation to intercept Turkish jets but the incident is not related to the operation.”

The Turkish media are covering the incident as breaking news, presenting it without referring to the fact that the aircraft was part of a formation intercepting Turkish aircraft that had violated Greek airspace. </s> • A Greek Mirage 2000-5 fighter jet has reportedly crashed over the Aegean sea, and the pilot has been reported dead by Greece's defense minister.
• Greek and Turkish planes often engage near their borders, but are rarely armed and tend not to fire anything.



A Greek air force Mirage 2000-5 fighter jet reportedly went down after a dogfight with Turkish jets near the Aegean island of Skyros, and Greece's defense minister has announced the pilot's death.

Both Greek and Turkish media outlets reported the crash, and that a Greek navy search and rescue option is took place.

"An M2000-5, 9 nautical miles of Iskiri (Skiros) Island disappeared in the north east" Turkey's Millyet.com.tr reported.

The Turkish outlet reported that Turkey's military said its jets where nowhere near the scene of the crash at the time.

Greece and Turkey frequently engage jets in dogfights over the Aegean, but the planes are often unarmed and rarely fire missiles. In this case, Greece claims the Turkish jets violated its airspace.

The Mirage is a single-engine multirole aircraft from the 1970s employed by air forces across Europe. </s> Defense ministry officials in Greece say an air force fighter jet has crashed into the eastern Aegean Sea after returning from a patrol, and it is unclear whether the pilot survived.

The officials told state-run television that the Mirage 2000-5 crashed Thursday north of the island of Skyros. They gave no information about the possible cause of the crash.

The plane came down in the Aegean Sea after intercepting Turkish jets as part of a two-plane patrol, state TV ERT said.

Patrolling has intensified in recent weeks amid a spike in tensions between Greece and Turkey and near-daily mock dogfights in disputed airspace.

Greek navy and coastguard ships and army helicopters have been dispatched to the area and are searching for the missing pilot. </s> • A Greek Mirage 2000-5 fighter jet crashed over the Aegean Sea on Thursday, multiple news outlets reported.
• Greece's defense minister has said the pilot is dead.
• Greek and Turkish planes often engage near their borders but are rarely armed and tend not to fire anything.

A Greek Mirage 2000-5 fighter jet went down near the Aegean island of Skyros on Thursday, according to multiple reports, and Greece's defense minister has said the pilot is dead.

The Greek newspaper Kathimerini cited a source as saying the Mirage had been returning from a mission to intercept Turkish jets.

Both Turkish and Greek news outlets reported that a search-and-rescue operation by Greece's navy had been underway.

"An M2000-5, 9 nautical miles of Iskiri (Skiros) Island disappeared in the northeast" Turkey's Milliyet newspaper reported, quoting a statement from Greece's air force.

According to the Milliyet report, Turkey's military said its jets were nowhere near the scene of the crash at the time.

Greece and Turkey frequently engage jets in dogfights over the Aegean Sea, but the planes are often unarmed and rarely fire missiles.

The Mirage is a single-engine multirole aircraft from the 1970s employed by air forces across Europe. </s> Defense ministry officials in Greece say an air force fighter jet has crashed into the eastern Aegean Sea after returning from a patrol, killing the pilot.

The officials told state-run television that the Mirage 2000-5 crashed Thursday some 6.5 kilometers (4 miles) north of the island of Skyros. They gave no information about the possible cause of the crash.

The plane came down in the Aegean Sea after intercepting Turkish jets as part of a two-plane patrol, state TV ERT said. A Greek general staff source also told the AFP that the Mirage 2000-5 plane was returning from a mission to intercept Turkish fighter jets.

State TV ERT said the warplane disappeared shortly before it was due to land at an airfield on Skyros island in the central Aegean.

However, sources from the Turkish Air Force Command told the Anadolu Agency that no Turkish jets were present at the time of the crash, and allegations that the Greek jet crashed after a dogfight with Turkish jets did not reflect the truth.

The pilot was initially missing, and Greek navy and coastguard ships and army helicopters were dispatched to the area.

"A Greek pilot (has entered) the pantheon of heroes," Defense Minister Panos Kammenos said in a tweet later in the day.

Patrolling has intensified in recent weeks amid a spike in tensions between Greece and Turkey and near-daily mock dogfights in disputed airspace.

Greek and Turkish fighter planes regularly scramble in the Aegean to intercept airspace violations.

The control of territorial waters and airspace in the Aegean Sea remains a problematic issue between the two countries. Citing bilateral and international treaties, Turkey says both countries have six-nautical-mile-wide territorial waters and airspace around their respective mainland and islands.

In contrast, Greece, citing international law, wants to increase its territorial waters to 12 nautical miles, which would leave practically the whole Aegean Sea under Greek control. Through a parliamentary motion in 1995, Turkey declared unilateral action by arguing that, if Greece were to extend the boundary to 12 nautical miles it would be considered a casus belli. Greece also unilaterally considers its airspace as 10 nautical miles, which is rejected by Turkey. </s> A Greek air force plane has crashed into the eastern Aegean Sea after returning from a mission to intercept Turkish aircraft, killing its pilot.

Officials said the Mirage 2000-5 crashed Thursday north of the island of Skyros but gave information about the possible cause of the crash.

The Hellenic Air Force said in a statement that authorities lost contact with the jet some 9 miles northeast of the island at 12.15 p.m.

Patrolling has intensified in recent weeks amid a spike in tensions between Greece and Turkey and near-daily mock dogfights in disputed airspace.

Greek navy ships and army helicopters are searching for the missing pilot.

Greek soldiers fired warning shots at a Turkish helicopter after it approached a tiny Greek island of Ro in the eastern Aegean on Monday.

The Turkish coastguard helicopteer, flew along the outer limit of the air control identification zone between the two countries, both members of Nato.

Tensions between Greece and Turkey have been rising in recent weeks.

A Turkish court rejected requests for two Greek soldiers arrested in Turkey to be released from custody.

The two were arrested last week for allegedly entering a Turkish military zone and on suspicion of attempted espionage.

Greece said the two soldiers, a lieutenant and a sergeant, accidentally strayed into Turkey due to bad weather during a patrol of the Greek-Turkish border.

In February Greek coast guard vessel was rammed by a Turkish patrol boat off disputed islets in the east Aegean, and Turkish warships prevented an exploratory gas rig from drilling near Cyprus.

Turkey meanwhile, is angered by court decisions in Greece rejecting the extradition of eight Turkish servicemen wanted by Ankara for their alleged involvement in a failed military coup in 2016. </s> ATHENS, Greece — A Greek air force jet crashed into the Aegean Sea on Thursday, killing the pilot, as he returned from a mission to intercept Turkish aircraft that had violated the country’s air space, Greek officials said.

The Turkish government did not comment publicly about the accusations of an encounter. The state-run Anadolu news agency quoted unnamed military officials as disputing scattered reports that there had been a dogfight between jets from the two countries and denying that any Turkish air force jet had been in the area.

Greek officials said nothing about what might have caused the crash, or whether it was connected to a confrontation with Turkish jets, though they stressed that the crash occurred several kilometers from the site of the interception mission.

The Hellenic air force said it lost contact with its Mirage 2000-5 jet at 12:15 p.m., while the aircraft was about 10 miles northeast of Skyros, an island near the central Aegean. The pilot was identified as Capt. Giorgos Baltadoros, 33, a father of two children, and Defense Minister Panos Kammenos described him on Twitter as a “hero who fell defending national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

An official at the Greek Defense Ministry said the jet was returning from a mission to intercept two Turkish F-16 jets farther east, near the Greek island of Lesbos.

“The mission had finished and it had been on its way back with another Greek plane,” said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Close encounters between Greek and Turkish aircraft are common in the Aegean, which is flanked by Greece to the west and Turkey to the east, and where the traditional foes have engaged in lingering territorial disputes, though such episodes are rare.

Air patrols in the Aegean and interceptions of Turkish aircraft that Greece considered to be in its air space have spiked in recent weeks, increasing friction between the neighbors, both members of NATO. Greece said its troops fired tracer rounds Monday night as a warning after a Turkish helicopter with its lights off flew close to the Greek islet of Ro in the southern Aegean. Turkey has not commented on the matter.

The conflicts have escalated at a time of high tension on Turkey’s southeastern flank, along its border with Syria. Turkey, Iran and Russia are deeply entwined in the complex civil war, Israel has struck at Syrian and Iranian targets, and the United States and its allies are weighing strikes against the Syrian government for suspected use of chemical weapons.

Turkey and Greece both claim sovereignty over two rocky islets in the Aegean, known as Imia in Greece and Kardak in Turkey. They nearly went to war over the islets in 1996, after a Turkish cargo ship ran aground, the two nations traded angry accusations, and both sent troops there. U.S. diplomats intervened to avert a military clash.

The recent increase in military activity in the Aegean comes amid a wave of unusually aggressive rhetoric between the two countries. In Greece, Turkish hostility is interpreted by many analysts as an attempt by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to grandstand for his domestic audience.

Tensions have also dogged the relationship between Turkey and the European Union, of which Greece is a member. Turkey is technically still seeking membership in the bloc, but talks have ground to a halt as Erdogan’s government has become increasingly autocratic.

Turkey and the European Union reached an agreement in 2016 to contain the flow of migrants into Europe, but Erdogan has at times threatened to allow them through unimpeded. Migrant arrivals to the Greek islands from Turkey have increased sharply in recent days.

Other issues are straining ties between Athens and Ankara. Two Greek soldiers have been in a Turkish jail for nearly six weeks after crossing the border in bad weather, in what Greece has said was an accident. And eight Turkish soldiers who fled the 2016 coup in Turkey are seeking asylum in Greece, but Turkey is insisting that they be returned.
A Hellenic Air Force Mirage 2000-5F fighter jet crashes near the Greek island of Skyros in the Aegean Sea while intercepting a Turkish aircraft that had violated Greek airspace. The pilot is reported dead.