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Lt. Gen. Mohamed Al-Haddad gives a military salute during a meeting in the eastern city of Benghazi in April 2023. (Abdullah Doma/AFP/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
By Gul Tuysuz, Mohammed Tawfeeq, CNN
(CNN) — Libya’s army chief was killed in a plane crash while returning home from an official visit to Turkey on Tuesday, Libya’s prime minister said.
Lt. Gen. Mohamed Al-Haddad was killed along with four of his companions in a “tragic accident” while on flight home to Tripoli from an official visit to Ankara, Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah said in a statement.
“With great sadness and sorrow, we have received the news of the death” of Al-Haddad and four of his companions, al-Dbeibah added. The prime minister, who heads a UN-backed Government of National Unity, offered condolences to the families of the victims, calling the loss a tragedy for the nation and the military institution.
Turkish authorities reported earlier that they had lost contact with a Falcon 50 business jet carrying Al-Haddad and others shortly after it departed Ankara Esenboga Airport on Tuesday evening.
The aircraft sent out an emergency landing notification near Haymana, about 50 miles (81 kilometers) southwest of Ankara, but “contact with the aircraft could not be re-established,” Turkey’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Tuesday.
The head of Turkey’s communication directorate, Burhanettin Duran said on X that the private jet had requested an emergency landing because of “an electrical failure.”
The aircraft’s voice recorder and black box were found Wednesday morning, Yerlikaya said. The Turkish military had reached the wreckage just over a mile (2 km) south of the Kesikkavak Village in Haymana District, the minister said in an earlier statement.
The Libyan Prime Minister identified the four others killed as: Chief of Staff of the Ground Forces Maj. Gen. Al-Fitouri Ghreibel; Director of the Military Manufacturing Authority Brig. Gen. Mahmoud Al-Qatioui; adviser to the Chief of Staff of the Libyan Army, Mohamed Al-Asawi Diab; and media office photographer Mohamed Omar Ahmed Mahjoub.
Turkish broadcaster CNNTurk reported that the plane had a crew of three, all of whom were French nationals.
Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said an investigation has been launched into the crash, which will look into “all its aspects and with great care.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Turkey’s Armed Forces said Al-Haddad had been formally received in Ankara with a military ceremony as an official guest. He held bilateral talks with Turkish Chief of the General Staff Gen. Selcuk Bayraktaroglu following the ceremony.
The-CNN-Wire
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