All twenty Turkish military personnel on board a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft have been confirmed dead after the plane crashed in eastern Georgia near the Azerbaijani border, Türkiye’s Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday.

According to the ministry, the C-130 had taken off from Ganja, Azerbaijan, following a logistics mission, and was en route to Erzurum, Türkiye, when radar contact was lost approximately 15 minutes after entering Georgian airspace. The wreckage was later found in a mountainous area near the Sighnaghi municipality, some 60 kilometers northwest of the Azerbaijan border.

Emergency teams from Türkiye, Georgia, and Azerbaijan immediately launched a joint search and rescue operation, but heavy fog and poor visibility delayed the arrival of ground crews. Georgian Interior Ministry officials confirmed that no survivors were found among the 20 Turkish servicemen on board.

Video footage circulated on Georgian and Turkish media showed the aircraft spiraling down with a trail of white smoke before impact. Witnesses in nearby villages reported hearing “a loud explosion followed by flames” in the hills east of Sighnaghi.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed his “deep sorrow” over the tragedy, extending condolences to the families of the fallen soldiers.

“Our heroic servicemen have lost their lives in the line of duty. I extend my heartfelt condolences to their families and to our nation,” Erdoğan said in a statement issued from Ankara.

President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan also sent a message of condolence to his Turkish counterpart, describing the loss as a “shared tragedy between two brotherly nations.”

“We were deeply saddened by the tragic news of the loss of servicemen in the crash of a Turkish Air Force military cargo plane, which took off from Ganja and crashed in Georgian territory,” Aliyev stated, adding that the Azerbaijani people “share the grief of Türkiye.”

The Georgian Interior Ministry has opened an investigation into the cause of the crash, working in coordination with Turkish military experts and the Azerbaijani Civil Aviation Authority. Preliminary reports suggest the plane may have encountered severe weather conditions, including low cloud cover and turbulence, though mechanical failure has not been ruled out.

A Turkish Air Force technical team and forensic unit have been dispatched to the crash site to assist in the recovery of remains and the retrieval of the flight data recorder. Sources within the ministry indicated that the black box was located late Tuesday evening and will be sent to Ankara for analysis.

The C-130E Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft used extensively by the Turkish Air Force since the 1960s. It plays a vital role in personnel transport, cargo delivery, and humanitarian missions both domestically and abroad. Türkiye currently operates around 12 C-130s, several of which have undergone modernization programs in recent years to extend their service life.

The crash marks one of the deadliest accidents involving a Turkish military aircraft in recent years, following the 2021 helicopter crash in Bitlis that killed 11 soldiers, including a senior commander.

Flags across Turkish military installations and government buildings are being flown at half-mast, and sources in Ankara say a national day of mourning is being considered. The bodies of the fallen servicemen are expected to be repatriated to Türkiye on Wednesday, following a joint ceremony coordinated with Georgian and Azerbaijani authorities.

Defense Minister Yaşar Güler is scheduled to travel to Tbilisi to oversee the transfer operations and meet with his Georgian counterpart. (ILKHA)