A Turkish Air Force C130 cargo plane crashed on Tuesday, November 11, in eastern Georgia, near the border with Azerbaijan. Twenty people, including the flight crew, were on board the plane that took off from Azerbaijan and flew to Türkiye.
“Search and rescue operations launched in coordination with Azerbaijani and Georgian authorities”announced the Turkish Defense Ministry, without immediately reporting any casualties. Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan implicitly mentioned the possibility of casualties by stating: “May God forgive our martyrs”.
The crash occurred in the Sighnaghi region of eastern Georgia, about five kilometers after crossing the border. “Investigation has been opened”confirmed by the Georgian Ministry of the Interior, in its press release, promising its upcoming publication “detailed information about the incident” the cause of which is still unknown.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev offered his condolences to the Turkish head of state, according to the official Anadolu news agency.
Images of accidents on social media
Turkish authorities asked the press not to publish images of the accident, while videos allegedly showing the moment of the accident began to circulate. In these images, the device appears partially destroyed when it fell.
According to the Georgian air navigation service Sakaeronavigatsia, the plane that took off from Ganja, in western Azerbaijan, disappeared from radar screens minutes after entering Georgian airspace, without emitting a distress signal.
A research team was sent by this authority “to find the location of the suspected accident and provide assistance to the victims”cooperate with the relevant Georgian authorities.
According to Turkish Interior Minister, Ali Yerlikaya, who announced on X that he had spoken with Georgian Interior Minister, Gela Geladze, Turkish Interior Minister, Gela Geladze, was on his way to the crash site.
