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The black box from the aircraft carrying a Libyan military delegation that crashed near Ankara has been sent to Germany for analysis, the Libyan Interior Ministry announced Thursday.
The ministry said the step aims to "ensure a careful technical assessment" of the crash.
The plane's black box includes a flight data recorder and a voice recorder documenting conversations inside the cockpit. In Germany, flight recording devices are typically analyzed by the Federal Aviation Accident Investigation Authority (BFU) in Braunschweig.
Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said on X that following preliminary examination, "the voice recorder and flight data recorder will be analyzed in a neutral country to determine the cause of the crash," though he did not specify the country.
The Libyan Interior Ministry said Turkish prosecutors have pledged to support the investigation and provide all documents and camera recordings.
"Libyan criminal police sent DNA samples collected from relatives of the victims to Turkish authorities to confirm the identities of those who died in the crash," the ministry said.
The Libyan Transport Ministry sent a delegation of civil aviation experts to Türkiye to follow the latest developments in the investigation, the Libyan Government of National Unity (GNU) announced.
The delegation will present a detailed report on its findings to the relevant Libyan authorities.
Libya had sent a delegation to Türkiye immediately after the crash to follow up on the incident.
The Falcon 50 jet carrying Libyan Chief of Staff General Ali Muhammad al-Haddad and his delegation crashed near Haymana district on Dec. 23 after taking off from Ankara Esenboga Airport bound for Tripoli.
The Turkish Ministry of National Defense said the aircraft declared an emergency due to an electrical malfunction before initiating return procedures to Esenboga Airport.
All eight people on board were killed, including five military delegation members and three crew members reported to be French nationals.
Those killed in the crash included Haddad, Land Forces Commander Lt. Gen. Futuri Gharibil, Military Manufacturing Corporation Director Brig. Gen. Mahmoud al-Kutawi, Chief of Staff Advisor Muhammad al-Assawi Diyab, and General Staff Media Office Photographer Muhammad Omar Ahmad Mahjoub.
The military delegation had been in Ankara as official guests of Turkish Chief of General Staff General Selcuk Bayraktaroglu. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered condolences to Tripoli Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Mohammed Dbeibah.
A temporary successor to Haddad has been appointed in Libya.
Türkiye deployed military forces to Libya in January 2020 following a request from the internationally recognized Government of National Accord.
The Turkish Parliament approved a 24-month extension of the military mission on the same day as the crash.
Türkiye has supported the U.N.-recognized government in Tripoli since 2011, and in recent years has also taken steps to develop relations with the Benghazi-based administration led by Gen. Khalifa Haftar in eastern Libya.
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