A Hellenic Air Force Mirage 2000-5 jet crashed into the Aegean Sea Thursday near the coast of Skyros Island killing the pilot, a 34 year old man Georgios Baltadoros, father of two children.
The plane crashed after intercepting Turkish jets in the Aegean but the Greek Defense Ministry said that the crash was not connected to the interception as there was no dogfight.
“According to the information the military authorities have, [the pilot] was returning after interception of two Turkish jets. There was no dogfight,” Greek Deputy Defense Minister Fotis Kouvelis said, adding that by the time the Greek plane arrived to engage, the Turkish jets had left the Greek airspace.
The Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Thursday expressed condolences for the loss of the pilot on behalf of the Turkish president and himself to his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras Sputnik press agency reports.
