Turkey has shot down a Russian warplane, on Tuesday, claiming it had violated Turkish airspace and ignored repeated warnings. The Turkish military said that it scrambled two F-16 fighter jets after a plane penetrated Turkish airspace in the province of Yayladagi, Hatay at 9.20am on Tuesday morning. It said the plane was warned 10 times within 5 minutes before it was shot down. However, Russia denied that the plane has crossed the Syrian border into Turkish skies.

A government official said: “In line with the military rules of engagement, the Turkish authorities repeatedly warned an unidentified aircraft that they were 15km or less away from the border. The aircraft didn’t heed the warnings and proceeded to fly over Turkey. The Turkish air forces responded by downing the aircraft. “This isn’t an action against any specific country: our F-16s took necessary steps to defend Turkey’s sovereign territory.”

Russia’s defence ministry said, “We are looking into the circumstances of the crash of the Russian jet.” The ministry of defense would like to stress that the plane was over the Syrian territory throughout the flight. “At all times, the SU-24 was exclusively over the territory of Syria,” the defense ministry said.

The ministry said the two pilots managed to successfully eject from the plane, but added that Moscow had no further contact with them. A Video footage of the incident showed a warplane on fire before crashing on a hill and two crew members apparently parachuting safely. The Turkish TV network reported that one of the pilots was found dead. The whereabouts of the second pilot is unclear.

Watch the video here:

The European Command said the deployment was “in response to the government of Turkey’s request for support in securing the sovereignty of Turkish airspace.”

In October, NATO’s governing body, the North Atlantic Council, had warned Moscow it was courting “extreme danger” by sending planes into Turkish airspace.