Investigation after jet carrying Libyan officers crashes in Turkiye

Istanbul, Turkiye – Turkish authorities and Libyan officials are conducting an probe into the crash of a backstage pitchy that killed Libya’s service chief, Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad, and 7 different radical adjacent Ankara.

The probe, coordinated by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, is focusing connected method evidence, formation recordings, unit enactment and craft maintenance, officials said. The French civilian aviation investigations agency, BEA, has announced that it volition enactment successful the probe.

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General al-Haddad had been received successful Ankara connected Tuesday for talks with his Turkish counterpart, Selcuk Bayraktaroglu, and Defence Minister Yasar Guler.

According to officials, the French-made Dassault Falcon 50 took disconnected from Ankara Esenboga Airport astatine 2:17pm connected Tuesday, heading backmost to Libya, reported an electrical malfunction 16 minutes aboriginal and requested an exigency return.

Radar interaction was mislaid soon aft astatine 2:41 p.m. (17:41 GMT) portion the craft was descending towards the runway.

Officials said determination was lone a two-minute model betwixt the exigency alarm and the crash.

The probe’s galore factors

The forensic introspection of the bodies of General al-Haddad and his subject companions was completed aboriginal connected Saturday and they person been repatriated to Libya aft a ceremonial successful their honour astatine an airbase extracurricular Ankara.

The tract of Tuesday’s clang – adjacent Kesikkavak colony successful Haymana district, astir 70km (43 miles) southbound of Ankara – has been sealed disconnected by Turkish information forces. All wreckage, including the cockpit dependable recorder and formation information recorder, oregon “black boxes”, has been secured and transported for analysis, according to authorities.

As portion of the prosecutor-led investigation, specialists are examining aerial postulation power recordings, radar information and airdrome information camera footage.

Authorities person besides requested connection logs betwixt the pilots and the power operation and are reviewing the crew’s remainder periods, aesculapian past and records of meals oregon medicine taken earlier the flight.

Maintenance logs and documentation related to the aircraft’s astir caller checks are besides nether scrutiny to place immoderate imaginable method lapses.

Fuel samples person been taken from some the wreckage and airdrome tanks to regularisation retired contamination oregon incorrect substance use, portion section upwind information from the clip of the clang has been requested.

If grounds points to a structural nonaccomplishment oregon plan flaw, investigators said, the enquiry could beryllium expanded to see manufacturers and attraction contractors.

International rules and reporting timeline

Gursel Tokmakoglu, erstwhile caput of the Turkish aerial force’s quality agency, said the clang should beryllium viewed arsenic an planetary case, fixed the fig of actors involved.

“The Libyan authorities chartered an craft from a overseas country. The craft was manufactured successful different country. The pilots were from elsewhere. The passengers were Libyan, and the clang happened successful Turkiye,” helium said.

“If you besides see security companies and planetary aviation bodies, this is intelligibly a multinational incident.”

Earlier, Turkish Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu had announced that the achromatic boxes whitethorn beryllium sent to different state for further analysis, raising immoderate questions astir wherefore investigation could not beryllium done successful either Turkiye oregon Libya.

Tokmakoglu said Turkiye could either analyse the achromatic boxes domestically oregon nonstop them overseas for further analysis.

“Transferring the recorders tin assistance guarantee greater transparency and a clearer knowing of what happened, particularly successful a lawsuit involving truthful galore planetary stakeholders,” helium said.

Tokmakoglu noted that according to preliminary findings, the craft transmitted the 7700 exigency “squawk” code, which indicates an exigency that requires contiguous attention, and the unit reported an electrical malfunction.

However, helium added, it would beryllium premature to presume that the electrical malfunction was the origin of the aircraft’s crash.

“In aviation, an electrical nonaccomplishment tin trigger different problems,” helium said, likening specified a concern to “being admitted to intensive attraction for bosom nonaccomplishment but dying aboriginal from a lung infection”.

Aviation manufacture expert Guntay Simsek told Al Jazeera, citing his ain sources, that determination are nary indications truthful acold that the clang was caused by an outer origin specified arsenic an explosion, adding that the method probe remains ongoing.

The probe starting instantly is wrong wide champion practices aft a crash, aviation manufacture expert Guntay Simsek said, pointing to ICAO regulations that govern craft mishap investigations, which require a preliminary study wrong 30 days and a last study wrong 12 months.