A private jet carrying Libya’s top military official was still in one piece and had both engines running when it slammed into a hillside near Ankara last month, a preliminary technical report said Thursday.
The report was drafted by an accident investigation team and added to an investigation file opened by Ankara’s chief public prosecutor into the December 23 crash, Turkish media reported.
The Dassault Falcon 50 struck a hilltop at an altitude of 1,252 meters (about 4,108 feet) at high speed while maintaining its integrity, the state-run Anadolu news agency quoted from the report. Investigators said the impact generated enough kinetic energy that the rocky terrain could not absorb it, causing the aircraft to disintegrate and scatter wreckage across roughly 150,000 square meters (about 37 acres).
The aircraft exploded on impact, Anadolu reported, but investigators found no evidence of fire inside the jet. They noted a brief flash at the moment of impact, according to Anadolu.
All eight people on board were killed, including Lt. Gen. Mohammed al-Haddad, identified as the chief of Libya’s armed forces, along with four aides and three crew members.
The crash took place shortly after takeoff from Ankara Esenboğa Airport on a flight to the Libyan capital of Tripoli. Turkish officials said at the time that the pilots reported an electrical failure and asked to make an emergency landing before contact was lost.
The jet’s flight recorder was recovered a day later and sent to London for analysis, Anadolu reported. The preliminary report did not determine the cause of the crash, saying a final conclusion would come after further technical examinations and the analysis of flight recorder data.
The incident drew attention in Libya, where al-Haddad was a senior figure in the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity, which is recognized by the United Nations. Libya has been divided since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The Government of National Unity controls the west, while the east is run by military commander Khalifa Haftar.
Turkey has been a key supporter of the Tripoli authorities since a 2019 agreement that expanded security and defense cooperation. Ankara has maintained military personnel in Libya and has sought to protect its interests in the country’s political transition and energy and maritime disputes in the eastern Mediterranean.
Libyan officials said the delegation had traveled to Ankara for meetings related to defense cooperation before returning home on the private jet.
With reporting by Agence France-Presse