Crash survivor's desperate phone plea

Thousands of rescuers were today searching for the sole survivor of a Turkish helicopter crash who made desperate plea for help on a mobile phone.

Journalist Ismail Gunes was travelling with a politician when the helicopter came down in mountains.

“There is snow and fog everywhere,” said Mr Gunes of the IHA news agency.

“I can’t speak because my leg is broken. ... I am inside the helicopter. The others are silent. ... I guess they’re dead. ... My God, it is very bad.”

The emergency responder tried to calm him, but the journalist responded: “Can’t you find our location? We will freeze here.”

“We fear for him, his voice was shaken and the temperatures were minus 20 degrees there last night,” Orhan Sali, from the IHA agency, said today. “We keep praying for him.”

Interior Minister Besir Atalay said they were unable to pinpoint the helicopter because it did not have an emergency beacon.

Rescue helicopters were waiting for clear skies to let them take off and help the search by 2,000 soldiers and villagers in an area of at least eight square miles.

“We hope we can find them alive,” Mr Atalay said. “We’re doing our best.”

The helicopter, which crashed Wednesday in the province of Kahramanmaras, was carrying six people including Muhsin Yazicioglu, leader of the small conservative Great Unity Party as he returned from a rally before Sunday’s local elections.

About 300 angry supporters of Mr Yazicioglu marched on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s office today accusing the government of starting the search late.

Mr Erdogan and his political rivals cancelled pre-election rallies after the accident.

The 55-year-old Mr Yazicioglu is a prominent leader of the conservative nationalist movement in Turkey but his party was not expected to make a strong showing in Sunday’s elections.