TBILISI, November 12. /TASS/. Georgian rescue teams have retrieved the bodies of 18 out of 20 Turkish soldiers who died in the crash of a Turkish C-130 military transport aircraft in Georgia, Gela Geladze, Interior Minister of Georgia, told journalists.
"There were 20 people on board, including the crew. A total of 18 people have been found. Unfortunately, they died. The search for the other two is still ongoing. I am in constant contact and coordination with the Turkish Interior Ministry. We have organized an international investigation team, which includes our colleagues from Turkey. They spent all night at the site and took part in the investigation," Geladze said.
The interior minister stated that the plane departed from Azerbaijan at around 2:00 p.m. (10:00 a.m. GMT), crossed the Georgia border and crashed roughly 5 km from there.
On Tuesday, the Turkish Defense Ministry reported that a C-130 aircraft carrying 20 Turkish military personnel had crashed in Georgia after departing from Azerbaijan. According to Georgian officials, the plane disappeared from radar a few minutes after entering Georgian airspace. The pilot sent no distress signal, and a search-and-rescue operation was initiated. The aircraft crashed roughly 5 km from the Georgia-Azerbaijan border in the Sighnaghi municipality. Following the incident, the Georgian Interior Ministry opened a criminal investigation for violation of aviation safety or operational regulations that resulted in fatalities.