Voice, flight data recorders recovered in Libyan army chief plane crash | Latest updates

Turkish authorities betimes on midweek recovered the cockpit sound recording equipment and flight of stairs data recorder from a private jet that crashed shortly after taking off from the capital, Ankara, killing the head of Libya’s armed forces and four of his aides.

The private jet carrying General Mohammed Ali Ahmad al-Haddad, four other senior officers and three crew members crashed in Turkey on Tuesday shortly after taking off from the capital, Ankara, killing all eight people on board, according to the Associated Press.

The senior Libyan delegation was returning to Tripoli after holding defence talks in Ankara focused on strengthening military cooperation between the two countries.

The Falcon 50 aircraft had requested an emergency landing minutes after departure due to an electrical failure, but contact was subsequently lost, officials said.

The wreckage was later located by Turkish security personnel in the Haymana district near the capital.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya told reporters at the crash site that both the voice recorder and the flight data recorder, commonly known as the black box, had been recovered.

“The examination and evaluation processes of these devices have been initiated by the relevant authorities,” he said.

Also Read | Turkey says electrical failure reported before Libyan military jet crash

Lieutenant General Mohammed al-Haddad and four aides were travelling back to Tripoli after holding talks in Ankara with Turkish military officials.

The aircraft was carrying eight people, including three crew members.

Yerlikaya said the bodies remained at the wreckage site, adding that a 22-member Libyan delegation had arrived in Ankara.

Search teams said debris from the crash was scattered across an area of about three square kilometres, complicating recovery efforts, while teams from Turkey’s forensic medicine authority were working to recover and identify the remains.

The wreckage was found near the village of Kesikkavak in Haymana district, around 70 km south of Ankara.

Search and recovery operations were stepped up on Wednesday after overnight rain and fog, according to state-run Anadolu Agency.

Gendarmerie police sealed off the area, while the disaster management agency AFAD set up a mobile coordination centre and deployed specialised vehicles due to muddy terrain.

Yerlikaya said 408 Turkish personnel were involved in the operation and that four prosecutors had been assigned to lead the investigation.

Libyan Prime Minister Dbeibah confirmed the deaths on Tuesday, describing the crash as a “tragic accident” and a “great loss” for Libya in a Facebook post. The Libyan government announced three days of national mourning, with flags to be flown at half-mast at state institutions.

During his visit to Ankara, Haddad had also met Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler and other officials.

The Libyan delegation’s visit came a day after Turkey’s parliament approved a two-year extension of the mandate for Turkish troops in Libya, first deployed under a 2019 security and military cooperation agreement with the Tripoli-based government.

Haddad had served as Libya’s chief of general staff since August 2020, having been appointed by then prime minister Fayez al-Sarraj.

Libya remains divided between a UN-recognised government in Tripoli led by Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah and a rival administration in the east headed by commander Khalifa Haftar.

The North African country has been fractured since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime leader Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.

Turkey maintains close economic and military ties with the UN-backed government in Tripoli, with frequent high-level exchanges between the two sides.

Ankara has also recently reached out to the eastern administration, with the head of Turkey’s intelligence agency, Ibrahim Kalin, meeting Haftar in Benghazi in August.

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