On Tuesday night (December 23, 2025), tragedy struck as a Falcon 50 business jet carrying Libya's army chief of staff, Mohammed al-Haddad, and four senior military officials crashed south of Ankara. 😔
The jet departed Ankara's Esenboga Airport at 8:10 p.m. local time, bound for Tripoli. Just 42 minutes later, at 8:52 p.m., air traffic controllers lost contact after receiving an emergency landing notice near the Haymana district's Kesikkavak village.
Turkish gendarmerie teams quickly located the wreckage, and local media footage showed a flash at the impact site and debris scattered across a rural area. Ankara's airspace briefly paused flights before operations returned to normal.
Libyan Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah confirmed al-Haddad's death along with the four other military officials in an official statement. The team was returning from high-level talks in Türkiye, where al-Haddad met with Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler and Chief of the General Staff Selcuk Bayraktaroglu earlier that day.
A special investigation committee has been formed in Libya to probe the cause of the crash. Officials say they'll look into every detail, from weather conditions to technical factors, to understand what went wrong.
Our thoughts are with the families and colleagues of those lost in this tragedy. Stay tuned for updates. 🌍💬
Reference(s):
Libya's army chief of staff and four others killed in plane crash
cgtn.com
