A Turkish military aircraft carrying 20 servicemen crashed in the border region between Georgia and Azerbaijan on Tuesday, killing everyone on board. The Turkish Ministry of Defence confirmed the tragedy on Wednesday morning, publishing photographs of the 20 deceased military personnel on social media platform X, mourning the loss of the personnel returning from Azerbaijan.
The C-130 aircraft had departed from Ganja, Azerbaijan, and was en route to Turkey when it crashed in Georgia’s Sighnaghi municipality, about five kilometres from the border with Azerbaijan. The servicemen were reportedly part of a unit returning after participating in Azerbaijan’s Victory Day celebrations. State news agency Anadolu reported that the cause of the crash has not yet been determined, and authorities from Turkey, Georgia, and Azerbaijan are coordinating an investigation into the incident.
Images purportedly showing the incident, circulating on social media, showed an aircraft crashing vertically to the ground at high speed, though these images cannot be independently verified. Georgia’s aviation authority reported that contact with the plane was lost a few minutes after it entered Georgian airspace, and the plane did not issue a distress signal. Georgian and Turkish search and rescue teams were dispatched to the region, and an investigation is underway to determine whether violations of aviation safety or operational rules contributed to the crash.
