Turkish military plane with 20 on board crashes in Georgia

A Turkish flag is seen in this 2024 file image. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

ANKARA. Turkiye -- A Turkish military cargo plane with 20 people on board crashed in Georgia near the border with Azerbaijan on Tuesday, authorities said, but they gave no immediate confirmation of feared casualties.

Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and top officials from Georgia and Azerbaijan signaled that at least some of those aboard were believed to have been killed, without providing details.

Video footage aired on Turkish news outlets appeared to show the aircraft spiralling down and leaving a trail of white smoke.

The C-130 plane had taken off from Azerbaijan and was on its way back to Turkiye when it crashed, Turkiye’s Ministry of National Defence said on X.

The ministry said there were 20 military personnel on board, including crew members. Georgian authorities reached the crash site at around 5 p.m. (1400 GMT), Turkey’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said, adding that a search and rescue operation was continuing.

The Georgian Interior Ministry said the aircraft crashed in Georgia’s Sighnaghi municipality, close to the Azerbaijani border, adding that an investigation has been launched.

Turkiye’s state-run Anadolu Agency quoted the Georgian aviation authority as saying that contact with the plane was lost a few minutes after it had entered Georgia’s airspace. The plane had not issued a distress call, it said.

Turkiye’s military deployed an unmanned aerial vehicle to support the rescue operation while an accident investigation team was making preparations to leave for Georgia, private news broadcaster NTV reported.

Erdogan said he was “deeply saddened” by the crash and expressed his condolences for the “martyrs.”

“God willing we will overcome this accident with the least amount of setbacks possible,” Erdogan said.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and Georgian Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili also extended their condolences to their Turkish counterparts over the crash.

“We are deeply shocked by the news of the loss of life of our soldiers in the accident that occurred on Georgian soil,” Aliyev said in a message according to the Anadolu Agency.

C-130 military cargo planes are widely used by Turkiye’s armed forces for transporting personnel and handling logistical operations.

Turkiye and Azerbaijan maintain close military co-operation.

Erdogan and other Turkish officials had attended Azerbaijan’s Victory Day celebrations in Baku on Nov. 8, marking Azerbaijan’s military success in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.