Search teams probe wreckage after Libyan army chief, 7 others are killed in Turkiye plane crash

Search and recovery teams on Wednesday intensified their operations at the site of a plane crash that killed Libya’s military chief and other high-level officers, working to secure the area and locate the aircraft’s flight recorders after a night of heavy rain and fog, Turkiye’s state-run news agency said.

The private jet carrying General Muhammad Ali Ahmad al-Haddad, four other officers and three crew members crashed in Turkiye on Tuesday after taking off from the capital, Ankara, killing everyone on board. Libyan officials said the cause of the crash was a technical malfunction on the plane. The Libyan delegation was on its way back to Tripoli after holding high-level defence talks in Ankara aimed at boosting military cooperation between the two countries. Libyan Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah confirmed the deaths, describing the incident on Facebook as a “tragic accident” and a “great loss” for Libya.

 Al-Hadad was the top military commander in western Libya and played a crucial role in the ongoing, UN-brokered efforts to unify Libya’s military, which has split, much like Libya’s other institutions. The four other officers who died in the crash were General Al-Fitouri Ghraibil, the head of Libya’s ground forces, Brigadier General Mahmoud Al-Qatawi, who led the military manufacturing authority, Mohammed Al-Asawi Diab, advisor to the chief of staff, and Mohammed Omar Ahmed Mahjoub, a military photographer with the chief of staff’s office.

The identities of the three crew members were not immediately released. Turkish officials said the Falcon 50-type business jet took off from Ankara’s Esenboga airport at 8.30 pm and that contact was lost some 40 minutes later. The plane notified air traffic control of an electrical fault and requested an emergency landing. The aircraft was redirected back to Esenboga, where preparations for its landing began. The plane, however, disappeared from the radar while descending for the emergency landing, the Turkish presidential communications office said.

The wreckage was found near the village of Kesikkavak, in Haymana, a district some 70 kilometres (about 43.5 miles) south of Ankara. At Haymana, gendarmerie police sealed off the area where the plane crashed, while the Turkish disaster management agency, AFAD, set up a mobile coordination centre, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. Specialised vehicles, such as tracked ambulances, were deployed because of the muddy terrain. Anadolu said Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya is expected to visit the site along with prosecutors assigned to lead the investigation.

Libya was also expected to send a team to Ankara to work with Turkish authorities investigating the crash. While in Ankara, al-Haddad had met with Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler and other officials. Libya plunged into chaos after the country’s 2011 uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The country was split, with rival administrations in the east and west, backed by an array of rogue militias and foreign Governments.

Turkiye has been allied with Libya’s Government in the west, but has recently taken steps to improve ties with the eastern-based Government as well. Tuesday’s visit by the Libyan delegation came a day after Turkiye’s parliament approved extending the mandate of Turkish troops serving in Libya for two years. Turkiye deployed troops following a 2019 security and military cooperation agreement that was reached between Ankara and the Tripoli-based Government.