All twenty personnel aboard a Turkish military cargo plane were killed after it crashed in Georgia near the Azerbaijani border on Tuesday, Turkey’s defence minister said.The crash was confirmed by authorities from all three countries involved. Georgia’s interior ministry said that the plane crashed in the Sighnaghi area, “about five kilometres (3.1 miles) from Georgia’s state border” with Azerbaijan, as cited by AFP. “Our heroic comrades-in-arms were martyred on November 11, 2025, when our C-130 military cargo plane, which had taken off from Azerbaijan en route to our country, crashed near the Georgia-Azerbaijan border,” defence minister Yasar Guler said through a post on X.The cause of the crash is still under investigation.Video footage broadcast by local media appeared to show the aircraft spiraling downward with a trail of white smoke before crashing.On Tuesday, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency cited Georgia’s aviation authority as saying that contact with the aircraft was lost just minutes after it entered Georgian airspace. The plane did not issue any distress signal before the crash, the agency reported.A Turkish accident investigation team arrived at the crash site early on Wednesday and began examining the wreckage, which was scattered across a wide area, according to Turkish broadcaster Habertürk, reports AP. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he was “deeply saddened” by the tragedy and offered his condolences to the families of the victims.Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev also offered his condolences to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, stating: “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. In this moment of sorrow, I share your grief and, on behalf of myself and the people of Azerbaijan, extend heartfelt condolences to you, the families and loved ones of the deceased, and the fraternal people of Türkiye.”The C-130E Hercules, a four-engine turboprop tactical airlifter, is a key aircraft in the Turkish Armed Forces fleet, primarily used for transporting personnel and carrying out logistical missions.Its versatile design allows the aircraft to serve multiple roles beyond transport, including use as a gunship and for airborne assault and reconnaissance missions. Today, it remains one of the primary tactical airlifters in service with many military forces around the world, as reported by Reuters.
