The remains of Libyan army chief Mohamed Al-Haddad and his advisers, killed in a plane crash near Ankara, will be repatriated on Saturday
ISTANBUL: The remains of Libya’s chief of staff and his advisers, killed in a plane crash near Ankara, will be repatriated on Saturday.
The Turkish defence ministry announced the repatriation following a short ceremony at the Murted air base near Ankara, presided over by Defence Minister Yasar Guler.
General Mohamed Al-Haddad of the Tripoli-based government, four of his advisers and three crew members died when their Falcon 50 jet crashed less than forty minutes after take-off on Tuesday.
Turkish authorities have stated the plane experienced an electrical failure.
The investigation into the cause will be conducted by a “neutral country”, possibly Germany, with the plane’s black box recovered from farmland near the crash site.
A French diplomatic source confirmed two French nationals were among the crew.
The aircraft was chartered from Malta-based company Harmony Jets, which maintains its fleet in Lyon, France.
Libya’s rival administrations, the Government of National Unity in Tripoli and the eastern government in Benghazi controlled by Marshal Khalifa Haftar, have declared three days of national mourning.
This marks a rare show of unity in a country that has struggled for stability since the fall of Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.
Turkey is a strong supporter of the Tripoli government but has sought in recent years to improve ties with Haftar.
