Turkish Military C-130 Cargo Plane Crashes Near Georgia-Azerbaijan Border with 20 Personnel Onboard

Search and rescue operations are currently underway following a tragic incident involving a Turkish military aircraft. (Representational)

A Turkish military cargo plane carrying 20 individuals, including flight crew members, crashed near the Georgia-Azerbaijan border while returning from Azerbaijan, according to a statement released by Turkey's defense ministry on Tuesday.

"Our C-130 military cargo plane, which departed from Azerbaijan to return home, has crashed at the Georgia-Azerbaijan border," the defense ministry confirmed, adding that "20 personnel were on board, including the flight crew".

Footage of the incident shared on social media showed the aircraft spinning horizontally before plummeting from the sky, generating a substantial cloud of black smoke upon impact.

Additional video reportedly from the crash site revealed the charred wreckage ablaze while bystanders watched from a nearby field. Turkey's defense ministry has requested media outlets refrain from publishing images of the crash scene.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed sorrow "for our martyrs" and stated that Turkey is collaborating with Georgian authorities "to reach the wreckage," as reported by the Anadolu state news agency.

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev conveyed his condolences to the Turkish leader in a post on X. Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan engaged in a telephone conversation with Georgian counterpart Maka Bochorishvili regarding the ongoing search and rescue efforts.

Georgia's interior ministry verified that the plane went down in the Sighnaghi region, "approximately five kilometers (3.1 miles) from Georgia's state border" with Azerbaijan.

Georgia's Sakaeronavigatsia air traffic control service reported that the aircraft vanished from radar shortly after entering Georgian airspace without transmitting any distress signal. The service stated it was alerted about the crash by emergency services.

"A Turkish C-130 aircraft disappeared from Sakaeronavigatsia's radar a few minutes after entering Georgian airspace, without transmitting a distress signal," the service announced, confirming it had initiated "search and rescue operations".

"The airport in Ganja, Azerbaijan -- from which the Turkish aircraft had departed -- has been notified, as has the Turkish side," the statement added.

The C-130 Hercules military cargo plane involved in the incident is manufactured by US company Lockheed Martin.