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All 20 servicemen traveling on a Turkish C-130 cargo plane that crashed in Georgia have died, the Turkish government said on Tuesday.
The C-130 plane had taken off from Azerbaijan and was heading back to Türkiye when it crashed, Turkey’s Defense Ministry said in X.
Video images broadcast by the media appeared to show the plane descending in a spiral and leaving a trail of white smoke.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he was “deeply saddened” and expressed his condolences for those killed in the crash.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev expressed his condolences to his Turkish counterpart Erdoğan over the incident.
In his message, Aliyev wrote: “We were deeply saddened by the tragic news of the loss of servicemen in the accident of a military cargo plane of the Turkish Air Force, which took off from Ganja and crashed on Georgian territory.”
“In this moment of grief, I share your pain and, on behalf of myself and the people of Azerbaijan, I extend my deepest condolences to you, to the families and loved ones of the deceased, and to the brotherly people of Türkiye,” he said.
A search and rescue operation was launched in coordination with authorities in Azerbaijan and Georgia, officials said.
Georgia’s Interior Ministry said the plane crashed in the Sighnaghi municipality, near the border with Azerbaijan, and that an investigation had been launched.
The C-130E Hercules, a four-engine turboprop tactical transport aircraft, is widely used by the Turkish armed forces to transport personnel and conduct logistics operations.
