Turkish military plane with at least 20 on board crashes in Georgia

Turkiye and Azerbaijan person indicated that determination are fatalities aft a C-130 cargo craft crashed connected Tuesday.

A Turkish subject level with astatine slightest 20 radical connected committee has crashed successful Georgia adjacent to the borderline with Azerbaijan, Turkiye’s Defence Ministry has said.

There were nary contiguous reports connected the fig of casualties oregon the origin of the mishap involving a C-130 cargo plane, which had taken disconnected from the Azerbaijani metropolis of Ganja connected Tuesday.

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However, some Turkiye and Azerbaijan, which are adjacent allies, person indicated that determination person been fatalities.

Turkiye’s Defence Ministry said 20 Turkish personnel, including formation crew, were connected the C-130 plane, but did not notation imaginable passengers of different nationalities.

Local media said that Azerbaijani unit were besides travelling connected the United States-made aircraft, which was heading backmost to Turkiye erstwhile it crashed.

Dramatic footage published by Azerbaijani media appeared to amusement the craft sending a ample unreality of achromatic fume into the entity aft it deed the ground.

Turkiye’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said his Georgian counterpart, Gela Geladze, arrived astatine the country astatine astir 5pm section clip (14:00 GMT). Search and rescue operations were ongoing, helium added.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said helium was “deeply saddened” by the crash, expressed his condolences to those who had been killed.

“We are profoundly shocked by the quality of the nonaccomplishment of beingness of our soldiers successful the mishap that occurred connected Georgian soil,” said Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, according to Turkiye’s state-run Anadolu Agency.

The level went down successful the Sighnaghi country of the Kakheti portion astir 5km (3.1 miles) from the Georgian-Azerbaijani border, the Georgian interior curate confirmed.

Meanwhile, the country’s Sakaeronavigatsia aerial postulation power work said the craft disappeared from radar soon aft entering the country’s airspace. It sent nary distress awesome anterior to the crash, it added.

Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkiye, expressed his enactment to the families of the victims, saying that his state “stands successful solidarity with our Turkish allies”.