More details are emerging about the air disaster that occurred Tuesday evening in Turkey, where a plane carrying top Libyan military officials, including the Chief of General Staff, Mohamed Ali Al-Haddad, crashed outside Ankara. There were 8 people on board, all of whom lost their lives.
The black box, which is expected to shed more light on the incident, will be analyzed at a neutral location, the Turkish Government announced today.
"The analysis of the cockpit voice recorder and the aircraft's black box, which will help determine the causes of the crash, will be carried out at a neutral location," Turkish Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu announced in a post on X.
The downed plane was a Falcon 50. According to Turkish authorities, a high-ranking military delegation from Libya was on board.
Following the crash of the private jet, Turkey's Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced that both the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and the flight data recorder (FDR), known as the "black box", of the Falcon 50 had been found.
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Libya's communications minister tells Al Jazeera that "all indications point to a technical failure" as the cause of the plane crash near Ankara.
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A Greek woman is said to be among the eight victims of the plane crash. According to information so far, she was a member of the plane's crew. She has been identified as Maria Pappa.
According to technical data, the aircraft with flight number 9H-DFS took off from Ankara at 20:17, with destination Tripoli. About half an hour after takeoff, the pilot reported a serious electrical fault and requested an immediate forced landing. Immediately after the request, communication with the control tower was interrupted, until the moment of impact with the ground.
Mohamed al-Haddad was the Chief of Staff of the forces affiliated with the Government of National Unity in western Libya, one of Turkey's allies and its most loyal men.
— khaled mahmoued (@khaledmahmoued1) December 23, 2025
His death in a plane crash during the return flight from Turkey to Libya raises questions about whether the… pic.twitter.com/rxBWbC02wm
Following the tragic incident, Turkish authorities have sealed off a wide area, within a radius of approximately three kilometers, where scattered parts of the plane have been found.
The collected data is being reviewed by the competent air accident investigation services, while Turkey declares its determination to proceed with a full investigation into the circumstances of the tragedy.
The Libyan military leadership was returning to Tripoli after concluding official contacts in Ankara as part of talks on defense cooperation issues.
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