Turkey confirmed on Wednesday that all 20 people aboard a military cargo plane that crashed in eastern Georgia while returning from Azerbaijan had died.
According to Turkey’s defence ministry, the C-130 Hercules aircraft took off from Ganja Airport in western Azerbaijan on Tuesday afternoon but crashed shortly after crossing into Georgian airspace.
“Our heroic comrades-in-arms were martyred on 11 November 2025 due to the crash of our C-130 military cargo aircraft, which had taken off from Azerbaijan to return to Turkey,” Defence Minister Yaşar Güler said in a statement posted on X, accompanied by photographs of the 20 victims, including the flight crew.
The ministry did not specify the cause of the crash. However, dramatic footage circulated by Azerbaijani media appeared to show the aircraft spinning mid-air and shedding debris before hitting the ground.
Georgia’s Interior Ministry said the plane went down near Sighnaghi, about five kilometres (3.1 miles) from the Azerbaijani border.
Officials from Georgian air traffic control reported that the aircraft disappeared from radar shortly after entering Georgian airspace without sending a distress signal. Emergency services were the first to alert authorities to the crash site.
The C-130 Hercules, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, is a widely used U.S.-built military transport aircraft designed for both cargo and troop movement.
AFP
