A Turkish military cargo aircraft carrying 20 people crashed in Georgia near the border with Azerbaijan on Tuesday, Turkish and Georgian authorities confirmed, though there was no immediate word on casualties.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, along with officials from Georgia and Azerbaijan, suggested that several of those on board may have been killed, but details were not immediately released.
Footage broadcast by Turkish media appeared to show the C-130 aircraft spiraling toward the ground while trailing white smoke.
According to Turkey’s Ministry of National Defense, the plane had departed from Azerbaijan and was returning to Turkey when it went down. The ministry said all 20 individuals on board were military personnel, including crew members.
Georgian Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said rescue teams reached the crash site around 5 p.m. local time and that search and rescue efforts were continuing.
Georgia’s Interior Ministry said the plane crashed in the Sighnaghi municipality, close to the Azerbaijani border, and that an investigation has been launched.
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency quoted Georgian aviation authorities as saying that contact with the aircraft was lost shortly after it entered Georgian airspace. The plane reportedly did not send a distress signal before the crash.
Turkey has deployed an unmanned aerial vehicle to assist the search operation, while an accident investigation team was being sent to Georgia, private broadcaster NTV reported.
President Erdogan said he was “deeply saddened” by the incident and extended condolences to the families of those he described as “martyrs.”
“God willing, we will overcome this tragedy with the least possible loss,” he said.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Georgian Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili also expressed condolences to their Turkish counterparts.
“We are deeply shocked by the loss of our Turkish brothers in this tragic accident on Georgian soil,” Aliyev said, according to Anadolu Agency.
The C-130 aircraft is widely used by Turkey’s armed forces for troop transport and logistical operations. Turkey and Azerbaijan maintain close military cooperation, and Erdogan had attended Azerbaijan’s Victory Day celebrations in Baku on November 8, marking the country’s military triumph in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.
Source: AP