By: Chioma Madonna Ndukwu
Türkiye Begins Analysis After Retrieving Black Box From Fatal Libyan Military Jet Crash
Turkish authorities have recovered critical flight recorders from the wreckage of a private jet that crashed shortly after takeoff from Ankara, killing Libya’s top military officials, including the country’s army chief.
The aircraft, a Falcon 50 business jet en route from Ankara’s Esenboga Airport to Tripoli, went down on Tuesday in Turkey’s capital region.
The wreckage was later located near Kesikkavak village in Ankara’s Haymana district, roughly two kilometres from the point of departure.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya confirmed on Wednesday that both the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder, commonly referred to as the black box—had been successfully retrieved following an extensive overnight operation.
According to Yerlikaya, teams from the Transportation Safety Investigation Center, operating under the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, recovered the voice recorder at about 2:45 a.m.
local time, while the flight data recorder was found roughly 35 minutes later. He said technical analysis of the devices has already begun.
The crash site, the minister noted, spanned nearly three square kilometres, prompting a large-scale search effort involving 408 personnel, more than 100 ground vehicles, and seven aircraft.
The jet was carrying a senior Libyan military delegation, whose visit to Türkiye had not been publicly detailed prior to the incident.
A 22-member Libyan delegation, including relatives of the victims and officials from Libya’s defence and interior ministries, has since arrived in Ankara to liaise with Turkish authorities.
“We are awaiting the findings of the investigation,” Yerlikaya told reporters. “The data recovered will help determine what caused this tragic accident, and the results will be shared once the assessment is complete.”
He extended condolences to the families of the victims and to the Libyan government and people, describing the crash as a devastating loss.
In Tripoli, Libya’s Government of National Unity has declared three days of national mourning in honour of those who died in the crash.
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