A Turkish military plane crashed in Georgia after taking off from Azerbaijan with 20 personnel on board, including the flight crew.
A video showed the C-130 Hercules spiralling and trailing white smoke before hitting the ground and erupting in a plume of black smoke on Tuesday.
The cause of the crash, which occurred as the plane was returning to Turkey, and the number of casualties were unclear. Georgian media reports suggested the plane was carrying both Turkish and Azeri personnel.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan as well as senior officials from Georgia and Azerbaijan indicated at least some of those on board had died, the Associated Press reported.
A few minutes after entering Georgian airspace, the aircraft “disappeared from radar without transmitting a distress signal”, the Georgian air navigation service said.
The interior ministry said that the plane went down “about 5km from Georgia’s state border” with Azerbaijan. Flightradar24 data showed the aircraft was flying under call sign TUAF543.
Interpress news agency reported that the aircraft crashed in Sighnaghi, a municipality in the eastern Kakheti region near Azerbaijan. It said the crash was being investigated under a criminal code article covering air transport and the loss of life.
Mr Erdogan was handed a note by aides at the end of a speech in Ankara to inform him of the crash.
He offered his condolences for “our martyrs”, referring to the personnel on the aircraft, without giving specific details about casualties.
“God willing, we will overcome this crash with minimum hardships,” the leader said. “May God rest the soul of our martyrs, and let us be with them through our prayers.”
Georgian authorities reached the crash site at around 5pm local time, Turkey’s interior minister Ali Yerlikaya said, adding that search and rescue efforts were still underway.
Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, expressed his condolences to Mr Erdogan, “the families and loved ones of the deceased, and the fraternal people of Turkey” in a call.
In an official readout, Mr Aliyev said he had discussed “the tragic news of the loss of servicemen” in the crash with Mr Erdogan.
Turkey deployed a drone to assist in the rescue operation and was preparing an accident investigation team to leave for Georgia, according to broadcaster NTV.
US ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack said he was “deeply saddened by today’s tragic crash of a Turkish Armed Forces aircraft”, and extended condolences to the families of the fallen, adding that the US “stands in solidarity with our Turkish allies”.
Lockheed Martin, the American manufacturer of C-130 Hercules, which is used by air forces around the world, said it was “committed” to supporting the investigation.
The C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military cargo and troop carrier plane that can use unprepared runways for take-off and landing.
Turkey reached an agreement last month with the UK to buy 12 second-hand C-130J aircraft.
Turkey shares strong military and diplomatic ties with Azerbaijan. Mr Erdogan recently attended celebrations in Baku commemorating the 2020 win in the Nagorno-Karabakh war against Armenia.
