Turkish Air Force C-130 aircraft with 20 onboard breaks apart mid-air at 24,000 feet and crashes near the Azerbaijan-Georgia border, moments of the crash captured in viral video; watch here

A tragic incident occurred near the Azerbaijan-Georgia border, where a Turkish Air Force C-130 cargo aircraft crashed on Tuesday, November 11, 2025, after departing from Azerbaijan and heading back to Turkey. The crash was confirmed by the Turkish Ministry of Defense, according to live flight tracker Flightradar24. The aircraft was operating under military service with 20 military personnel onboard.

Following the crash, a search and rescue operation was launched, coordinated with Azerbaijani and Georgian authorities. The cause of the crash remains unclear and is under investigation. The Turkish Air Force Lockheed C-130E Hercules, a military transport class aircraft using call-sign TUAF543, departed Ganja International Airport (GNJ) in Azerbaijan at 10:19 UTC, according to flightradar24.

Moments before the crash

Following the departure, the aircraft took a left turn and eventually positioned itself on a northeasterly track, passing the Mingechevir Reservoir beneath. As it crossed 15,000 feet, it again turned, this time onto a northwesterly heading before finally setting course west, passing the Georgian border at 10:37 UTC.

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Things took a sharp turn as the cargo aircraft reached up to the height of 24,000 feet at 10:41 UTC. Until that point, it was in a continuous ascent. The last ADS-B signal received by Flightradar24 occurred at 10:49:20 UTC. According to the data, there was a rapid descent during the last documented seconds of flight.

Video footage of the crash surfaces

A purported video clip of the crash surfaced on social media platform X. The unconfirmed footage purportedly shows the aircraft spiraling down from the sky, amidst white smoke. A separate sizable object most likely emanating from the aircraft can be seen falling towards the ground at a distance.

In an X post, OSINTdefender said, “Twenty servicemembers with the Turkish Armed Forces were killed earlier today, after a C-130E Hercules on a regularly scheduled flight between Ganja International Airport in Azerbaijan and Turkey, appeared to break apart midair and crash over Southeastern Georgia, roughly three miles from the border with Azerbaijan.”




Turkey’s Ministry of National Defense has communicated that 20 military personnel were on board, as reported by The Associated Press.

Turkish Air Force flight

Turkish Air Force flight TUAF543 was operated by a Lockheed C-130E Hercules registered as 68-1609. The aircraft was 57 years old, delivered from the Lockheed Marietta factory in 1968 and initially served the Royal Saudi Air Force. According to records, the aircraft entered service with the Turkish Air Force in March 2010. The last recorded flight was between Kayseri (ASR) to Ganja (GNJ), arriving at 08:04 UTC earlier on the day of the crash.