ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – A U.S. Predator drone crashed in southern Turkey on Wednesday, apparently because of a mechanical failure, an Air Force spokeswoman said. No injuries were reported.
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency said the remotely piloted aircraft crashed on a field after leaving the Incirlik base. Police quickly sealed the crash site as officials inspected the wreckage.
Capt. Lauren Ott, a spokeswoman for U.S. Air Forces Europe, said the cause of the crash was under investigation but an initial assessment indicated there had been a mechanical failure. She gave the location simply as an unpopulated area in southern Turkey.
Ott, based at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, would not comment on the drone’s mission.
Incirlik, near the border with Syria, is home to U.S. fighter jets and other aircraft belonging to coalition forces fighting the Islamic State group.
Witness Mehmet Bayram told Anadolu that he saw an object with flashing lights crash into the field before hearing a large explosion.