By HAN News Desk
ANKARA — An aircraft carrying Libya’s Chief of the General Staff, General Mohammed Ali Ahmed Al-Haddad, and four other people disappeared from radar after departing from Turkey on Tuesday, prompting search and emergency response efforts by Turkish authorities, officials said.
Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said the aircraft — a Falcon 50 business jet registered as 9H-DFJ — took off from Ankara’s Esenboğa Airport at 8:10 p.m. local time (17:10 GMT). The jet was en route to Tripoli, the Libyan capital, when contact was lost.
According to the minister, radar and radio communication with the aircraft ceased at 8:52 p.m. (17:52 GMT). Shortly afterward, authorities received an emergency landing notification from the vicinity of Haymana, a rural district southwest of Ankara. Despite the alert, attempts to re-establish communication with the aircraft were unsuccessful.
Search and rescue teams were immediately dispatched to the area, and coordination efforts involving aviation and emergency services were launched to determine the aircraft’s location and status. As of Tuesday night, officials had not confirmed whether the plane had made an emergency landing or experienced an incident.
Turkish authorities have not released information regarding the condition of the passengers or crew, nor have they provided details on the cause of the loss of contact.
“The public will be kept informed of further developments,” Yerlikaya said in a statement posted on NSosyal, a Turkish social media platform.
The incident comes amid heightened regional attention to aviation safety and security, though officials emphasized that investigations were ongoing and that no conclusions had been reached.
