Lost Turkish Airlines Plane Found in Sea of Marmara After 50 Years

The wreckage of a Turkish Airlines passenger plane that crashed into the Sea of Marmara in 1975 has been discovered by a Turkish researcher, offering a potential breakthrough in a decades-old aviation mystery. The discovery could finally shed light on the cause of the disaster, which claimed the lives of 42 people.

The Fokker F-28 aircraft was attempting to land in Istanbul in January 1975 when it failed to make its initial approach due to power outages at the airport. While circling over the Sea of Marmara, the plane disappeared from radar in dense fog, ultimately crashing into the water. Despite extensive searches at the time, the exact location of the wreckage remained unknown due to limitations in underwater technology.

In recent years, fragments believed to be from the lost aircraft have increasingly been recovered in fishing nets, sparking renewed interest in the case. Inspired by these findings, researcher Nedim Kur began a focused search for the main body of the plane off the coast of Istanbul’s Büyükçekmece and Ambarlı districts.

Using underwater drones, sonar equipment, and other specialized devices, Kur and his team recently pinpointed a section of the fuselage. “We activated the search and found the cabin of the plane at a depth of approximately 80 meters,” Kur told NTV. “We were also able to obtain clear images of parts of the fuselage.”

The team’s next step will focus on locating the aircraft’s tail section, where the flight data recorder – the “black box” – may be located. If recovered in good condition, the black box could provide crucial data to determine the cause of the crash, which has remained a mystery for over half a century.