Turkey’s defense ministry announced on Wednesday that 20 soldiers were killed in the crash of a Turkish military cargo plane in Georgia on Tuesday.
“Our aircraft that crashed had 20 personnel on board, including the flight crew. Search and rescue operations are ongoing,” the ministry stated.
“Our C-130 military cargo plane, which took off from Azerbaijan to return home, has crashed at the Georgia-Azerbaijan border,” the ministry confirmed, stating there were “20 personnel on board, including the flight crew.”
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Dramatic footage circulating in Azerbaijani media appeared to show the plane spinning horizontally as it fell, sending up a large cloud of black smoke upon crashing. Footage said to be from the crash site purportedly showed the blackened wreckage burning as several bystanders watched in a field.
Turkey’s defense ministry asked the press not to publish images of the crash. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan mentioned that Turkey was collaborating with Georgian authorities “to reach the wreckage,” expressing sorrow “for our martyrs,” according to the Anadolu state news agency.
In a post on X, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev extended his condolences to the Turkish leader. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also spoke by phone with his Georgian counterpart Maka Bochorishvili regarding the search and rescue operations, according to the ministry.
Georgia’s interior ministry confirmed the plane went down in the Sighnaghi area, “about five kilometers (3.1 miles) from Georgia’s state border” with Azerbaijan.
Georgia’s Sakaeronavigatsia air traffic control service stated the plane had disappeared from radar shortly after entering Georgian airspace, and it had been alerted to the crash by emergency services.
“A Turkish C-130 aircraft disappeared from Sakaeronavigatsia’s radar a few minutes after entering Georgian airspace, without transmitting a distress signal,” it stated, adding that it had initiated “search and rescue operations.”
“The airport in Ganja, Azerbaijan — from which the Turkish aircraft had departed — has been notified, as has the Turkish side,” it added.
The C-130 Hercules military cargo plane is made by US manufacturer Lockheed Martin.
