US paper thanks Turkey for helping injured journalists

The U.S.-based New York Times newspaper has sent a letter of thanks to a Turkish aid agency for its effort to transfer two injured American journalists to an Istanbul hospital after a helicopter crash in northern Iraq. "I wanted to express our deep gratitude for exceptional work that has been done by the Turkish government in evacuating our reporters … from Iraq and getting them safely to an Istanbul hospital," Arthur Sulzberger, the newspaper's publisher, wrote in the letter. Turkey's emergency management authority, AFAD, transferred New York Times reporter Alissa J. Rubin, 56, and photographer Adam Ferguson, 35, to Istanbul-based American Hospital. The helicopter in which they were traveling crashed Tuesday while carrying aid to Ezidi civilians stranded in the Sinjar Mountains. The pilot was killed and about 20 other passengers, including an Ezidi member of the Iraqi parliament, Vian Dakhil, were injured. The helicopter, a Russian-made Mi-17 piloted by peshmerga forces, had dropped aid and collected a group of Ezidis when it crashed shortly after takeoff. Islamic State militants have forced thousands of Ezidis to flee their homes and seek shelter around Mount Sinjar, near the Syrian border.