Turkey on Wednesday said 20 of its soldiers were killed when a military transport plane crashed in Georgia a day earlier, marking the NATO member's deadliest military incident since 2020.

The C-130 cargo aircraft left Azerbaijan for Turkey and crashed in Georgia on Tuesday, leaving chunks of twisted metal strewn across a grassy knoll.

Ankara has not provided a reason for the crash, but said Turkish and Georgian authorities started inspections at the site, located in the Sighnaghu municipality of Georgia's Kakheti district early Wednesday.

Footage from the site near the border with Azerbaijan showed ambulances, firetrucks and army vehicles in the area around the burned fuselage, with search-and-rescue teams scanning the grounds.

Unverified social media videos on Tuesday showed the plane

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