ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkey’s defence ministry said on Wednesday that 20 soldiers were killed in the crash of its military aircraft in Georgia a day earlier, as inspectors continued to seek clues what caused the NATO member’s cargo plane to go down.
The C-130 plane took off from Azerbaijan for Turkey and crashed in Georgia on Tuesday.
Ankara has not yet provided a reason for its deadliest military incident since 2020. It said Turkish and Georgian authorities began inspections at the site, in the Sighnaghu municipality of Georgia’s Kakheti district, at 0330 GMT on Wednesday.
Initial footage from the scene showed chunks of twisted metal strewn across a grassy knoll, while unverified footage on social media showed the plane breaking apart in mid-air and then corckscrewing towards the earth in a blaze.
On Wednesday, the Turkish Defence Ministry released a list of the 20 soldiers killed in the crash.
The leaders of Azerbaijan and Georgia, as well as the NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, have all conveyed condolences. Tom Barrack, the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, has also expressed his country’s solidarity with Turkey after the crash.
Turkish Defence Minster Yasar Guler on Tuesday spoke to his Georgian and Azerbaijani counterparts, as well as Azerbaijan’s chief of staff, to discuss search and rescue operations.
U.S. firm Lockheed Martin, which makes the C-130 Hercules that is widely used by air forces around the world, expressed its condolences and said it was committed to helping Turkey in any way during the investigation.
The C-130 Hercules is a cargo, troop and equipment carrier aircraft. It is described as a four-engine, turboprop military transport aircraft that can make use of unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings.
Its versatile airframe has enabled it to be used for other purposes as well, including as a gunship and for airborne assault and reconnaissance operations. It is now viewed as one of the main tactical airlifters for many militaries.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Jonathan Spicer)
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