„Unfortunately, four were martyred. We have reached the wreckage of the two planes,“ AFP quoted Interior Minister Efkan Ala as saying on Tuesday.

Each of the RF-4E jets was carrying a pilot and a co-pilot as they crashed late Tuesday evening near the city of Malatya, in the same province that carries the same name.

According to a statement released by Turkey’s Chief of General Staff Necdet Özel, both jets took off from Malatya Erhaç 7th Air Base at 6:07 p.m. local time (1607 GMT) and disappeared from radar screens on 7:05 p.m. (1705 GMT).

“The debris of our two planes was found at 8:45 p.m. (1845 GMT) and our four hero pilots were martyred,” the statement said.