A plane crash site for illustration

By Xinhua/NAN

Seven security personnel were killed after a reconnaissance plane crashed on Mount Artos in Turkey’s eastern Van Province, the state-run Anadolu agency reported on Thursday.

The agency quoted Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu.

Soylu, who has arrived at the accident site, told reporters that the plane crashed on Mount Artos at an altitude of about 2,200 meters on late Wednesday and that two pilots were among the dead.

An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the crash.

The province is located between Lake Van and the Iranian border.

In early February, two consecutive avalanches in the province’s mountainous Bahcesaray area killed at least 41 people.