Twenty members of Turkey’s Air Force were killed when a Turkish military cargo plane crashed in Georgia this week, the country’s defense minister said on Wednesday.
The C-130 cargo plane crashed on the border between Azerbaijan and Georgia on Tuesday afternoon, shortly after taking off from Azerbaijan to return to Turkey, according to the Turkish Defense Ministry. Yasar Guler, the Turkish defense minister, announced the deaths in a social media post on Wednesday.
The C-130 is used by militaries around the world to transport personnel and equipment. Video widely shared on social media and verified by the news agency Storyful showed the Turkish C-130 plane spinning as it descended, and crashing in a plume of smoke.
The Turkish interior minister, Ali Yerlikaya, said on social media that his Georgian counterpart had traveled to the crash site. Georgia’s Interpress news agency reported that the authorities were investigating the crash.
It was not immediately clear what mission the Turkish servicemen were carrying out in Azerbaijan. The two countries have longstanding military relations.
Last week, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey visited Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital, on the fifth anniversary of the end of Azerbaijan’s war against separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian enclave.
Lockheed Martin, which manufactures the C-130 plane, did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent after business hours.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
Francesca Regalado is a Times reporter covering breaking news.
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