The Libyan army’s chief of staff, Mohammed Ali Ahmed Al-Haddad, died along with four other officers and three crew members after their private jet crashed on Tuesday after takeoff from Turkey’s capital, Ankara, the prime minister of Libya’s internationally recognised government said.
“This followed a tragic and painful incident while they were returning from an official trip from the Turkish city of Ankara. This grave loss is a great loss for the nation, for the military institution, and for all the people,” said Libyan Prime Minister, Abdulhamid Dbeibah in a statement.
Turkish officials said the Libyan delegation was in Ankara for high-level defence talks aimed at boosting military cooperation between the two countries, with al-Haddad having met with Turkish Defence Minister, Yasar Guler, and other officials in Ankara.
The crash, which is being attributed to a technical malfunction on the plane, also killed Gen Al-Fitouri Ghraibil, the head of Libya’s ground forces, Brig Gen Mahmoud Al-Qatawi, who led the military manufacturing authority, Mohammed Al-Asawi Diab, advisor to the chief of staff, and Mohammed Omar Ahmed Mahjoub, a military photographer with the chief of staff’s office.
The identities of the three crew members were not immediately known.
According to a government statement on Facebook, Libya will send a team to Ankara to work with Turkish authorities on investigating the crash.
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Libyan military chief Al-Hadad was the top military commander in western Libya and played a crucial role in the ongoing, UN-brokered efforts to unify Libya’s military, which has split, much like Libya’s institutions.
Turkish Interior Minister, Ali Yerlikaya, said in a social media post that the plane took off from Ankara’s Esenboga airport at 8.30 pm before losing contact about 40 minutes later. The plane issued an emergency landing signal near Haymana before all communication ceased, Yerlikaya said, adding that the wreckage of the Falcon 50-type business jet had been found near the village of Kesikkavak, in Haymana, a district some 70 kilometres (about 43.5 miles) south of Ankara.
Burhanettin Duran, the head of the Turkish presidential communications office, said the plane notified air traffic control of an electrical fault and requested an emergency landing, following which it was redirected back to Esenboga, where preparations for its landing began.
However, the aircraft disappeared from the radar while descending for the emergency landing, Duran said.
Security camera footage aired on local television stations showed the night sky over Haymana suddenly lit up by what appeared to be an explosion.
The airport in Ankara was temporarily closed, and several flights were diverted to other locations. Libya’s UN-recognised Government of National Unity announced official mourning across the country for three days.
The crash occurred a day after Turkey’s parliament passed a resolution to extend the mandate of Turkish soldiers’ deployment in Libya by two more years. Turkey deployed troops following a 2019 security and military cooperation agreement that was reached between Ankara and the Tripoli-based government.
Libya plunged into chaos after the country’s 2011 uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator, Moammar Gadhafi. The country split, with rival administrations based in the east and west, backed by an array of rogue militias and foreign governments.
Turkey, which has been an ally of Libya’s government in the west, has recently taken steps to improve ties with the eastern-based government as well.
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