A Turkish C-130 military aircraft crashed today, November 11, on the border between Georgia And Azerbaijan with on board 20 peopleincluding the crew, while en route to Turkey. THE’cargo plane had taken off from Ganja International Airport, Azerbaijan, at 2.19pm local time (11:19 Italian time): as reported by Reutersthe aircraft should have crashed in the Georgian town of Sighnaghiin the Kakheti region, about 5 km from the border with Azerbaijan.
According to data tracked by Flightradar24at 2.41pm the C-130 reached a cruising altitude of 24,000 feet (about 7,315 metres), while the last signal was sent around 2.49pm, when the plane was traveling at around 519 km/h.
The incident was confirmed by the Ankara Ministry of Defense, which reported that the search operations I still am in progresswithout however specifying the number of victims.
The first images taken from the scene, published on social media, show pieces of metal falling from the sky along with parts of the fuselage still on fire, which generated clearly visible dark smoke.
The plane was a C-130 Herculesproduced by the US company Lockheed Martin, widely used by air forces around the world and used for the transport of goods, troops and equipment. Specifically, the C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport: thanks to its versatility, in some cases it has also been used as a combat helicopter or as an aircraft for assault operations. Today, therefore, it is considered one of the main tactical transport aircraft for armed forces of numerous countries, including the Italian Air Force.
Immediately after the incident, the Turkish President Erdogan expressed condolences for the passengers on board and their families, confirming the opening of an investigation: the dynamics of the accidenthowever, has not yet been clarified and the article remains under updating.
