Turkish military cargo plane with 20 on board crashes in Georgia

The ministry said the aircraft went down near the Georgia-Azerbaijan border, adding that search and rescue operations were underway to locate survivors.

“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 as reported by AFP. “There were 20 personnel on board, including the flight crew.”

Dramatic footage circulating in Azerbaijani media appeared to show the aircraft spinning uncontrollably before hitting the ground, erupting into a massive cloud of black smoke.

Videos allegedly from the crash site showed charred wreckage burning in an open field, surrounded by onlookers.

The Turkish defence ministry urged the media to refrain from sharing images of the crash out of respect for those onboard.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed deep sorrow over what he called “the loss of our martyrs,” and said Turkey was coordinating closely with Georgian authorities to reach the wreckage, AFP reported.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev also extended condolences to Turkey, while Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan spoke with his Georgian counterpart Maka Bochorishvili regarding ongoing rescue efforts.

Georgia’s interior ministry confirmed that the aircraft crashed in the Sighnaghi region, about five kilometres from the Azerbaijani border.

The country’s air navigation agency, Sakaeronavigatsia, said the plane disappeared from radar just minutes after entering Georgian airspace, without sending a distress signal.

“A Turkish C-130 aircraft disappeared from radar a few minutes after entering Georgian airspace, without transmitting a distress signal,” AFP quoted the agency as saying. “Emergency services alerted us to the crash shortly thereafter.”

The C-130 Hercules, built by Lockheed Martin, is one of the most widely used military cargo planes in the world, known for its reliability and versatility in both combat and humanitarian missions.

As search operations continue near the crash site, officials have yet to release any details about survivors or the cause of the accident.