A Turkish C-130 military cargo plane, taking off from Azerbaijan, crashed near the Georgian border while en route to Turkey. The Defense Ministry in Ankara announced the crash, adding that rescue operations are underway in coordination with the Azerbaijani and Georgian authorities.
There were twenty people on board the aircraft, including crew members. Their fate has not yet been determined.
It's unclear what happened, but investigators are analyzing footage showing the plane disintegrating into several pieces. A malfunction may have been behind the crash, but the aircraft could also have been hit by a rocket. Or there could have been an explosion on board.
Turkey's state-run Radio and Television Authority (RTUK) has called on the country's media to publish only information taken from "official" sources: "We firmly remind all our media organizations that they should not rely on information and statements from sources other than official ones, only statements from authorized bodies should be taken into consideration ," RTUK Chairman Mehmet Danis said, as reported by Cumhuriyet, adding that "it is crucial that images of the accident scene and the crash site are not shared."
While Turkish media hasn't released much information about the incident, some social media users have argued that the plane crash wasn't an accident but rather sabotage. "Planes don't break up and crash without any interference from inside or outside. Either something exploded inside (perhaps it was carrying ammunition) or it was shot down," Turkish academic Deniz Ulke Kaynak wrote on X, while numerous users have supported similar theories in their posts.
"I am saddened to learn of the crash of a Turkish C130 military cargo plane on Georgian soil while en route from Azerbaijan to Turkey," wrote Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani. "I express my solidarity with the Turkish people, the authorities, the armed forces, and all the rescuers responding on the scene. My condolences go to the families of the victims."
(Unioneonline)