BEIRUT — In the whirlwind of Syria’s civil war, two Russian pilots parachuted from their aircraft into a chaotic front-line mountainous region near the border with Turkey after their aircraft was hit by a Turkish F-16 fighter jet.
As the two figures tumbled, almost serenely, out of the sky, they were spotted by Syrian rebels on the ground, who opened fire in their direction, hitting the pilot, Lt. Col. Oleg Peshkov, who was dead when he landed in their midst.
The co-pilot and navigator, Capt. Konstantin Murakhtin, was luckier, the wind blowing his parachute few miles closer to the front-line, nearer to government troops. There, amid the chilly ravines, he waited for more than 12 hours until a Syrian commando unit was able to reach him.
In this photo made from the footage taken from Russian Defense Ministry official web site Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2015. showing a Russian Su-24M during a Russian air raid in Syria. Russia has been carrying out airstrikes on Islamic State group fighters in Syria since the end of September at the request of President Bashar Assad, Russia's long-term ally. Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP
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