Turkish officials confirmed on Tuesday that a military cargo plane has crashed near the Georgian border with Azerbaijan.
“Our C-130 military cargo plane, which took off from Azerbaijan to return home, has crashed on the Georgia-Azerbaijan border,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement. It had “20 personnel on board, including the flight crew.”
At least 20 personnel were on board the C-130 Hercules aircraft flying from Azerbaijan to Turkey, officials said. Georgia’s air traffic control service said the plane disappeared from radar shortly after entering its airspace.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan interrupted a speech in Ankara to pay tribute to “our martyrs”.
He said, “God willing, we will recover from this accident with minimum difficulties. May the souls of our martyrs rest in peace and may we be with them through our prayers.”
In a post on X, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev expressed his sympathy for Erdogan.
Türkiye says crash footage should not be published
Georgian officials said they were working to access the scene and would investigate with Turkish counterparts.
The C-130 Hercules is made by American manufacturer Lockheed Martin and is used by many air forces around the world to move personnel and equipment.
Later on Tuesday, footage began circulating in Azerbaijani media reporting that the plane appeared to be spinning sideways as it fell, resulting in a large cloud of black smoke billowing to the ground. There was also a video of the crash site showing charred debris, according to news outlets.
The Turkish military has asked the press not to publish photographs of the crash, citing concerns over the safety and privacy of the victims.
Edited by: Dmytro Lyubenko