OREANDA-NEWS  Russian Be-200 tanker aircraft extinguished fires in the area of Hachi and the port of Iskenderun in Turkey, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations reported.

Earlier, the Russian ministry reported that "Russian Be-200 tankers are used to extinguish fires in the area of the settlement of Yahachi and the port of Iskenderun."

Former Deputy Head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation Yuri Brazhnikov compared the current fire with a fire in Turkish Izmit at the Tyuprash concern facility in August 1999. Then, after a strong
earthquake, a petrochemical complex was burning, there was a threat of explosions of tanks with significant reserves of heavy oil. The fire was defeated with the help of three Russian IL-76 tanker aircraft, which shot down the flames with a "water strike". It was the Russian rescuers who initiated the use of the aircraft, he stressed.

The current large fire in the port of Iskenderun could also be extinguished with the help of a "water strike" from tanker aircraft, he noted.