5 Jul 2012

Bodies of Turkish pilots recovered

4:09 pm on 5 July 2012

The Turkish military has found the bodies of two Turkish pilots whose jet was shot down by Syria in June.

Turkey's TRT television said the two airmen were found on the Eastern Mediterranean seabed by a United States deep-sea exploration vessel.

Their F4 Phantom jet was shot down on 22 June after Syrian authorities said it had violated their airspace, a claim Turkey disputed.

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad said he regretted the incident.

The military said the wreckage of the plane itself had not yet been spotted.