Libya's army chief, 7 others killed in jet crash near Turkey; video captures chilling moment

The head of Libya's armed forces Lieutenant General Mohammed al-Haddad and four other high ranking military officials died late Tuesday (Dec 23) when their business jet crashed shortly after taking off from Ankara. The others on the aircraft are identified as Mohammed Al-Assawi, as well as Major General Al-Fitouri Ghraibil, Major General Mohammed Jumaa, and their escort, Mohammed Al-Mahjoub. Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said the Ankara chief prosecutor's office has launched an investigation into the incident.

Here's what happened

Officials in Turkey's capital Ankara and Tripoli said that Haddad's jet took off from Ankara's Esenboga airport at 1710 GMT, but soon, contact could not be established with it. Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said that the wreckage of their Falcon 50 aircraft was located by Turkish security personnel in the Haymana district near Ankara.Three crew members were also killed. Earlier on Tuesday, Haddad held talks in Ankara with Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler, and his Turkish counterpart, Selcuk Bayraktaroglu. He was then returning to Tripoli.

Briefing about the incident, Libya's Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah said on his Facebook page: "It is with deep sadness and great sorrow that we learnt of the death of the Libyan army's chief of general staff, Lieutenant General Mohammed al-Haddad." He added that "contact was lost" with the jet, 42 minutes after taking off. According to him, the aircraft issued an emergency landing notification near Haymana, 74 kilometres (45 miles) from Ankara, but contact could not be reestablished. News agency AFP reported quoting a senior Turkish official that the plane requested an emergency landing because of electrical failure 16 minutes after it took off.

AFP quoted a local in Haymana saying, "I heard a big sound of explosion. It was like a bomb," Burhan Cicek said. Libya's ambassador to Ankara was also at the site. Walid Ellafi, Libyan minister of state for communication and political affairs said that Turkish government informed his government of the incident. "We received a call from the Turkish authorities immediately after the incident, reporting that contact with the aircraft had been lost. All contact with the aircraft was lost about half an hour after takeoff from Ankara airport due to a technical problem. We are awaiting the conclusions of the Turkish investigation, and it appears that the plane crashed.," the minister said.