Tragedy Strikes: Turkish C-130E Aircraft Crashes in Georgia

A serious accident has occurred for the Türk Hava Kuvvetleri, the Turkish Air Force; a C-130E transport aircraft returning from Azerbaijan has crashed to the ground in Georgia.

According to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, there were casualties, although the number was not specified.

For his part, the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev expressed his condolences to his Turkish counterpart for the accident.

The C-130E had taken off from the Ganja air base and crashed in the Georgian territory in the area of the Sighnaghi municipality, near the border with Azerbaijan.

Of course, an investigation has been opened to determine the causes of this serious accident; according to the first testimonies collected and the first videos circulating on the net, the Turkish Hercules reportedly spiraled down, with the wing section completely detached from the fuselage, leaving behind a trail of white smoke.

Just a few days ago, Turkey finalized with the United Kingdom the purchase contract for twelve C-130J-30 aircraft retired by the Royal Air Force, which used them from 1999 until 2023; tragically ironic, these aircraft will replace the old C-130Es that had been subject to the Erciyes modernization program managed by TUSAS.