Search teams have located the wreckage of a Turkish fighter jet shot down by Syria on Friday in Syrian waters at a depth of 1,300 metres, Turkish news channels reported on Sunday, without citing a source.   


Turkey has issued a diplomatic note to Syria over its downing of the Turkish warplane over the Mediterranean, state broadcaster TRT said without giving any further details.

This as envoys from NATO member states will meet on Tuesday after Turkey requested consultations over the downing of its military jet by Syria, a NATO spokeswoman said on Sunday.   

In reactions, British foreign minister William Hague condemned Syria's shooting down of a Turkish jet as "outrageous" on Sunday and said Britain was ready to support robust action against Syria by the United Nations Security Council.   

"This outrageous act underlines how far beyond accepted behavior; the Syrian regime has put itself and I condemn it wholeheartedly," he added. "(Syria) will be held to account for its behaviour. The UK stands ready to pursue robust action at the United Nations Security Council."

For his part, Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi condemned Syria's shooting down of a Turkish jet as "unacceptable" on Sunday and said Italy would take an active part in NATO consultations due to take place at Turkey's request on Tuesday

Turkey's foreign minister earlier said a Turkish jet was downed in international airspace after it "mistakenly" entered Syria, but the plane "was not on a spying mission."             

Ahmet Davutoglu said the plane entered Syrian airspace on Friday, but quickly left when warned by Turkey.         

He said the plane had no "covert mission related to Syria," and it was purely on a training flight to test Turkey's radar capabilities.           

Davutoglu said the plane was shot down by Syria in "international airspace" several minutes after it left. He spoke on state-run TRT television Sunday, two days after the downing of the jet in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.         

Syria on Saturday insisted the shooting down of the plane was "not an attack," and that the plane had violated its airspace.  

Also in international reactions, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told Turkey Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in a telephone conversation Saturday that he was concerned about the implications of the incident of the downed Turkish plane by the Syrian army for the region, but commended Turkey for showing restraint in its reaction, said U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky.

For his part, Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi urged Turkey and Syria late on Saturday to show restraint following Syria's downing of a Turkish warplane, his ministry said.    

REUTERS/AP