Turkey temporarily grounds C-130 planes after crash kills 20 military personnel

Turkey has temporarily grounded all of its C-130 military cargo planes as a precaution, the defence ministry said on Thursday, following a crash in Georgia that claimed the lives of all 20 military personnel on board.

The cargo plane was flying from Azerbaijan back to Turkey when it went down in Georgia's Sighnaghi municipality close to the Azerbaijani border on Tuesday.

The cause of the crash is still being investigated.

The military personnel were part of a unit responsible for the maintenance and repair of Turkish F-16 jets that had flown to Azerbaijan to participate in the country's Victory Day celebrations.

The National Defence Ministry said C-130 flights were temporarily suspended to allow the aircraft to undergo detailed technical inspections.

Only those who successfully pass the checks would be allowed to resume flying, the ministry said in a statement.

The US-made C-130 Hercules military cargo planes are widely used by Turkey's armed forces for transporting personnel and handling logistical operations.

Ankara dispatched an accident investigation team to determine the cause of the crash.

The ministry said the plane's flight data recorder and cockpit voice data recorder were sent to Turkey and were under examination.

The aircraft was purchased from Saudi Arabia in 2012 and added to Turkey's Air Force inventory in 2014 after maintenance.

It later underwent modernisation and had been in use since 2022.

Its most recent scheduled maintenance was completed on 12 October, the ministry said.

Debris from the aircraft was scattered across multiple locations and the remains of the 20th victim were recovered on Thursday.

Funerals will be held after the remains are returned to Turkey and autopsies are completed.