HAYMANA, Türkiye: The pinnacle of Libya’s armed forces and 4 different high-ranking navy officers died late on Tuesday (Dec 23) when their enterprise jet crashed shortly after taking off from Ankara, officers in Türkiye’s capital and Tripoli mentioned.
The wreckage of their Falcon 50 plane was situated by Turkish safety personnel within the Haymana district close to Ankara, Turkish Inside Minister Ali Yerlikaya mentioned. Three crew members had been additionally killed.
Libya’s Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah mentioned on his Fb web page: “It’s with deep disappointment and nice sorrow that we learnt of the dying of the Libyan military’s chief of common workers, Lieutenant Basic Mohammed al-Haddad.”
Haddad earlier on Tuesday held talks in Ankara with Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler, and his Turkish counterpart, Selcuk Bayraktaroglu, and was returning to Tripoli.
Yerlikaya mentioned on X that Haddad’s jet took off from Ankara’s Esenboga airport at 8.10pm native time (Wednesday, 1.10am, Singapore time), and “contact was misplaced” 42 minutes later.
The plane issued an emergency touchdown notification close to Haymana – 74km from Ankara – however contact couldn’t be reestablished, the minister mentioned.
A senior Turkish official mentioned the aircraft requested an emergency touchdown due to {an electrical} failure 16 minutes after it took off.
The jet carried eight passengers, together with Haddad, 4 members of his entourage and three crew members “reported an emergency to the air site visitors management centre attributable to {an electrical} failure, asking for an emergency touchdown,” Burhanettin Duran, head of the presidency’s communications directorate, mentioned on X.
Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc mentioned the Ankara chief prosecutor’s workplace has launched an investigation into the incident.
“LIKE A BOMB”
A number of Turkish media retailers broadcast photos exhibiting the sky lit up by an explosion not removed from the situation the place the plane despatched a sign.
Burhan Cicek, an area in Haymana, recalled the second when the aircraft crashed.
“I heard an enormous sound of explosion. It was like a bomb,” he informed AFP.
Libya’s ambassador to Ankara was additionally on the website.
Walid Ellafi, Libyan minister of state for communication and political affairs, informed native tv channel Libya al-Ahrar that the Turkish authorities knowledgeable his authorities of the incident.
“We acquired a name from the Turkish authorities instantly after the incident, reporting that contact with the plane had been misplaced,” the minister mentioned.
“All contact with the plane was misplaced about half an hour after takeoff from Ankara airport attributable to a technical drawback,” he mentioned.
“We’re awaiting the conclusions of the Turkish investigation, and it seems that the aircraft crashed.”
The minister mentioned the others on the plane had been Haddad’s advisor, Mohammed Al-Assawi, in addition to Main Basic Al-Fitouri Ghraibil, Main Basic Mohammed Jumaa, and their escort, Mohammed Al-Mahjoub.
Haddad had been the military’s chief of common workers since August 2020 and was appointed by then-prime minister Fayez al-Sarraj.
Libya is cut up between a UN-recognised authorities in Tripoli, led by Dbeibah, and Commander Khalifa Haftar’s administration within the east.
The North African nation has been divided since a NATO-backed revolt toppled and killed longtime chief Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
Türkiye has shut ties with the UN-backed authorities in Tripoli, to which it supplies financial and navy help and there have been frequent visits between either side.
However Ankara has lately additionally reached out to the rival administration within the east, with the top of Türkiye’s intelligence company, Ibrahim Kalin, assembly with Haftar in Benghazi in August.
