Turkish military plane crashes on Georgia–Azerbaijan border

A Turkish military cargo plane has crashed on the Georgia–Azerbaijan border while en route to Turkey from Azerbaijan.

Reports of the crash first emerged on Tuesday afternoon, with the Turkish National Defence Ministry confirming a C130 military cargo plane crashed on the Georgia–Azerbaijan border shortly after.

‘Search and rescue operations have been initiated in coordination with Azerbaijani and Georgian authorities’, the ministry said.

Georgia’s Interior Ministry said that the plane crashed approximately 5 kilometres from the border in the Sighnaghi municipality. They added that the crash was being investigated as a violation of safety or operation rules of air transport which resulted in the loss of human life.

Shortly after Turkey confirmed the plane had crashed, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev extended his condolences to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

‘We were deeply saddened by the tragic news of the loss of servicemen in the crash of a Turkish Air Force military cargo plane’, he said, according to Azerbaijani state-run media outlet Azertac.

‘In this moment of sorrow, I share your grief and, on behalf of myself and the people of Azerbaijan, extend heartfelt condolences to you, the families and loved ones of the deceased, and the fraternal people of Türkiye.’

According to information shared by Flightradar24, a real-time aircraft tracker, the aircraft is believed to have departed from Ganja Airport at 14:19 local time.

Georgia’s TV Imedi has published an article containing a picture purportedly taken from the crash site.

Early reports of the crash were accompanied by unverified footage showing a plane spiralling down before crashing. The footage was shared by several media outlets from Azerbaijan and Georgia.