ANKARA – Two pilots have been killed when a Turkish military plane crashedin western Turkey during a training mission.

Turkey’s military said in a statement that the SF-260D light trainer planecrashed on Friday shortly after it took off from Cigli air base near thewestern port city of Izmir.

The wreckage of the stricken plane and the bodies of the pilots were foundsome three kilometers north of the base.

According to the statement, an investigation is underway to find out thecause of the crash.

Emergency and police vehicles were present at the crash site.

On January 17, two pilots and a technician were killed when a Turkishmilitary cargo plane crashed in the southwestern province of Isparta. Thejet was also on a training flight when it went down.

In December last year, a Turkish warplane crashed close to an airport inthe city of Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey but the pilot survived afterhe had safely ejected from the fighter jet.