Istanbul: A Turkish military cargo plane carrying 20 personnel, including the flight crew, crashed in Georgia on Tuesday while returning from Azerbaijan, the country’s defence ministry said.

“Our aircraft that crashed had 20 personnel on board, including the flight crew. Search and rescue operations are ongoing,” the ministry said in a statement.

The C-130 plane had taken off from Azerbaijan and was on its way back to Turkey when it crashed, Turkey's defence ministry said on X. It was not clear how many crew were on board the aircraft.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signalled there were casualties, without providing details.

A search and rescue operation has been launched in coordination with Azerbaijani and Georgian authorities, the ministry said.

The Georgian Interior Ministry said the aircraft crashed in Georgia's Sighnaghi municipality, close to the Azerbaijani border, adding that an investigation has been launched.