Libyan Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah on Tuesday confirmed the death of Libyan military chief Muhammad Ali Ahmad al-Haddad in a plane crash in Turkey.
Turkey‘s interior minister said that air traffic controllers lost contact with a Dassault Falcon 50-type jet carrying the Libyan military chief and others home after a visit to Turkey.
The plane departed from Ankara‘s Esenboga Airport at 8:10 p.m. local time, Ali Yerlikaya said on X. Contact with the jet was lost 40 minutes after, he said.
Burhanettin Duran, head of the Turkish presidency’s communications directorate, said the private jet had reported a technical failure, requesting an emergency landing as a result.
The plane then lost contact with air traffic control before crashing 70 kilometers (43.5 miles) south of Ankara.
The private jet carrying Libya’s military chief Muhammad Ali Ahmad al-Haddad took off from Ankara’s Esenboga AirportImage: Tunahan Turhan/REUTERS
Ankara holds close relations with the UN-backed Libyan government and provides the Tripoli-based administration with military support.
What we know about the victims
Libyan Prime Minister Dbeibah said in a statement on Facebook that the “tragic accident” took place as the Libyan delegation was “returning from an official trip to Ankara,” adding that it was “a great loss” for Libya.
The four other passengers on board were identified as Al-Haddad’s advisor Mohammed Al-Asawi Diab, Major General Al-Fitouri Ghraibil, advisor Mahmoud al-Qatiwi, and photographer Mohammed Omar Ahmed Mahjoub.
A security camera caught the private jet’s explosion when it hit the ground near AnkaraImage: AA/Anadolu/picture alliance
Three crew members also killed in jet crash
Turkish authorities said three crew members were also killed in the crash.
The plane’s black box was recovered on Wednesday from the crash site, where investigators were probing the incident, Turkey’s interior minister said.
Turkey’s Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu later said that the black box would be analyzed “in a neutral country.”
Libya’s civil war
Libya has been ravaged by a civil war since the fall of Moammer Gadhafi in 2011.
The North African country has suffered from inner power struggles, also involving foreign states, with Dbeibah’s government being based in the west, while Prime Minister Osama Hammad’s rival government, which has Russia’s support, being located in the east.
Edited by: Roshni Majumdar