The Turkish defence ministry stated on Thursday that it is too early to determine what caused a military cargo aircraft crash in Georgia this week, in which 20 soldiers were killed. Inspections are continuing.

The C-130 cargo plane had left Azerbaijan to Turkey when it crashed on Tuesday, marking the NATO member with its highest military fatality since 2020.

The ministry stated that an official report on the crash would reveal the cause. It also added that the aircraft did not carry ammunition during its last flight.

The ministry reported that the aircraft was carrying a maintenance team of 10 people for Turkish F-16s, which had previously taken part in Victory Day festivities in Azerbaijan. It also carried the flight crew and the maintenance equipment.

The last radio call of the plane was made 40 minutes prior to its crash. It said that the black box, which contains both the Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Data Recorder, was in Ankara to be analyzed.

Analysts have claimed that Turkey's fleet is outdated and in need of replacement, despite its general reliability. They also claim the cause of the crash to be a technical fault.

The Ministry, which announced last month a deal to purchase 12 C-130J planes that require modernisation and maintenance in Britain, said the crashed aircraft was purchased from Saudi Arabia in 2012. After modernisation it began flights in 2022.

The ministry stated that it has been regularly used and maintained since then. The last time it was serviced was one month prior.

The ministry said that all planned flights of Turkey's 18 C-130 aircraft had been suspended until inspections were completed.

(source: Reuters)