&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "WATCH | 20 people killed in Turkish military plane crash in Georgia")
A Turkish military cargo plane, a C-130, crashed on Tuesday (November 11) as it was returning from Azerbaijan, the Turkish Defense Ministry reported. The plane, which had 20 personnel aboard, including crew members, crashed near the border between Georgia and Azerbaijan. Footage circulating in Azerbaijani media appeared to show the aircraft spinning in the air before plummeting, with a large plume of black smoke rising from the wreckage. Additional video reportedly from the crash site showed the plane's charred remains as onlookers gathered in a nearby field. Turkey's Defense Ministry urged the press to refrain from publishing images of the crash. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed condolences for those lost, calling them "martyrs," and affirmed that Turkish authorities are working closely with Georgia to locate the wreckage.
"Our C-130 military cargo plane, which took off from Azerbaijan to return home, has crashed at the Georgia-Azerbaijan border," the ministry said in a statement, confirming there were "20 personnel on board, including the flight crew".
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Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev also expressed his sympathies in a message to Erdogan. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan spoke with Georgian officials about the ongoing search and rescue operation. According to Georgia’s Interior Ministry, the crash occurred in the Sighnaghi region, about five kilometers from the Georgian-Azerbaijani border. The Sakaeronavigatsia air traffic control service reported that the plane disappeared from radar shortly after entering Georgian airspace and failed to send out a distress signal. Emergency services quickly initiated the search and rescue effort. The C-130 Hercules, a military cargo plane manufactured by Lockheed Martin in the United States, is used by many countries for transport and logistical missions.
