Libya’s military chief of staff died in a plane crash after takeoff from Ankara on Tuesday, Libyan Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah said.
General Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad was returning back to Libya from high-level defence talks in the Turkish capital focused on strengthening the military cooperation between the two countries.
According to Libyan officials, the plane, a Falcon 50 type business jet, experienced a technical malfunction.
Four other officers, head of Libya’s ground forces General Al-Fitouri Ghraibil, director of the military manufacturing authority Brig. General Mahmoud Al-Qatawi, advisor to the chief of staff Mohammed Al-Asawi Diab and military photographer Mohammed Omar Ahmed Mahjoub were also on board, in additional to three crew members. No one survived the crash.
Shortly after taking off from Anakara’s Esenboga airport, the plane requested an emergency landing near Haymana after notifying air traffic control of an electrical fault. Turkish air traffic controllers then lost contact with the plane while it was on its emergency landing descent, roughly 40 minutes into its flight.
Security camera footage aired on local television showed the night sky over Haymana lighting up by what appeared to be an explosion.
The wreckage of the plane was found near the village of Kesikkavak in Haymana, located roughly 70 kilometres south of Ankara.
Four prosecutors are investigating the crash, Turkey’s Justice Ministry said. Libya will also send a team to the Turkish capital to work with local authorities.
The airport in Ankara was temporarily closed with several flights diverted to other locations.