site.btaBlack Boxes of Crashed Falcon 50 Carrying Senior Libyan Military Officials Found Near Ankara

Türkiye’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced at a briefing on Tuesday morning that the black boxes of the Falcon 50 aircraft which crashed last night after taking off from Ankara for Tripoli have been found. The aircraft was carrying senior Libyan military officials, including the Libyan army's chief of staff, Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad.

“The debris field of the aircraft extends over a radius of three kilometres. At 02:45 a.m. on Wednesday, the cockpit voice recorder was found, and at 03:20 a.m. the flight data recorder was located. The process of reviewing and analysing their contents has already begun. In addition, five relatives of the victims, as well as two delegations of 14 and eight people respectively, sent by Libya’s Interior Ministry - a total of 22 people from Libya - have arrived in Ankara,” Yerlikaya said.

The Interior Minister added that the bodies of those killed are still at the crash site.

The wreckage of the aircraft was found by Türkiye’s Gendarmerie about two kilometres east of the village of Kesikkavak in Haymana Municipality, near Ankara. It later emerged that the crew had requested permission for an emergency landing due to an electrical malfunction on board. A total of 408 personnel, 103 vehicles, seven aircraft, thermal drones and night-surveillance drones are involved in operations at the site. The air crash will be investigated by four prosecutors, coordinated by a deputy chief prosecutor.