Libya Declares Three Days of Mourning After Army Chief of Staff Killed in Plane Crash
According to the International Desk of Webangah News Agency, Libya has declared three days of national mourning after the death of Mohammed Ali Al-Haddad, the Chief of Staff of the Libyan Army, in a plane crash near Ankara, Turkey. The announcement was confirmed by Abdulhamid Dbeibah, the Prime Minister of Libya’s Government of National Unity, who also ordered flags to be flown at half-mast and the cancellation of official ceremonies during the mourning period.
Dbeibah has tasked the Ministry of Defense with sending an official delegation to Ankara to investigate the incident and coordinate directly with Turkish authorities. Waleed Al-Lafi, Libya’s Minister of Communications and Policy, told Al Jazeera that Turkish authorities have recovered the plane’s wreckage and the bodies of the victims, with initial evidence pointing to a technical malfunction as the cause of the crash.
Al-Haddad was on an official visit to Ankara at the invitation of his Turkish counterpart when the plane went down. The Libyan government has formed a crisis committee in response to the incident. Meanwhile, Turkish Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç announced that Ankara’s prosecutor’s office has launched an immediate investigation into the crash, with four prosecutors assigned to the case under the supervision of the Deputy Chief Prosecutor.
Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya earlier reported that gendarmerie forces located the wreckage near the village of ‘Kesikkavak’ in the Haymana district, approximately two kilometers south of Ankara. The plane had departed from Esenboğa Airport in Ankara on Tuesday evening en route to Tripoli but lost contact after requesting an emergency landing. Reports suggest the aircraft experienced an electrical failure after takeoff and sent a distress signal before disappearing from radar.
The Turkish Ministry of Defense had previously confirmed Al-Haddad’s official meeting with his Turkish counterpart and several military commanders in Ankara.
