Türkiye recovers black box, voice recorder from Libya plane crash

Türkiye’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya has confirmed that both the black box and the voice recorder from the plane carrying a Libyan delegation have been recovered.

Speaking from the Mobile Coordination Centre established near the crash site in Ankara, Minister Yerlikaya said the aircraft, which reportedly experienced a technical fault, went down late on December 23.

“The aircraft reported a technical malfunction at 20:32 and indicated it would return,” Yerlikaya said. “However, by 20:52, all contact with the plane was lost near the Haymana district.”

Following an emergency call to Türkiye’s 112 service, search and rescue teams from the Gendarmerie, AFAD, Police, Health Services and UMKE were dispatched immediately. Operations were coordinated with the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and the Turkish Air Force.

The first wreckage was located by gendarmerie teams at around 22:00. The main debris field was later identified approximately two kilometres south of Kesikkavak village in Haymana. A Mobile Coordination Centre was deployed by AFAD to oversee site management and inter-agency coordination.

A total of 408 personnel from AFAD, Gendarmerie, Police, Health Services, UMKE, the Army, Air Force, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure’s Transport Safety Investigation Centre, Fire Brigade and State Airports Authority are involved in the recovery. Teams are supported by 103 land vehicles and seven aircraft, as well as UAVs providing live footage, thermal and lighting drones, and K9 units.

The crash site covers roughly three square kilometres. Minister Yerlikaya confirmed that the aircraft’s voice recorder was recovered at 02:45 and the black box at 03:20, with investigations now underway.

Parts of a private jet have been found in Haymana, Türkiye, following the crash of an aircraft carrying Libya’s Chief of the General Staff, General Mohammed Ali al-Haddad. The Falcon 50 had departed Ankara’s Esenboğa Airport for Tripoli when it disappeared from radar. Witnesses reported an explosion near the airport shortly before the plane vanished.

Turkish authorities confirmed the crash, with security forces conducting rescue and investigation operations. Libya’s Government of National Unity will send a technical team to Türkiye to join the investigation. A specialised commission has also been formed to examine all aspects of the incident.

Libya has declared three days of national mourning for General al-Haddad.

By Aghakazim Guliyev