Ankara [Turkiye], December 27 (ANI): Turkish and Libyan authorities have opened a joint probe into the crash of a private jet near Ankara that claimed the lives of Libya's army chief, Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad and seven others, Al Jazeera reported.

The inquiry is being led by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and is examining technical evidence, flight recordings, crew conduct and aircraft maintenance history.

Officials confirmed that France's civil aviation investigation agency, BEA, will also participate in the investigation.

General al-Haddad had been in Ankara earlier this week for discussions with senior Turkish defence officials, including his counterpart Selcuk Bayraktaroglu and Defence Minister Yasar Guler.

Authorities said the French-manufactured Dassault Falcon 50 took off from Ankara Esenboga Airport at 2:17 pm on Tuesday for Libya but reported an electrical malfunction 16 minutes into the flight and requested an emergency return.

Radar contact was lost at 2:41 pm (1741 GMT) while the aircraft was descending toward the runway.

Officials said there was only a two-minute gap between the emergency alert and the crash, Al Jazeera reported.

The crash site near Kesikkavak village in Ankara's Haymana district, around 70 km south of the capital, has been secured by Turkish security forces.

All debris, including the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, commonly known as 'black boxes', has been recovered and moved for detailed analysis.

Investigators are reviewing air traffic control communications, radar information and airport security camera footage as part of the prosecutor-led probe.

Authorities have also sought communication records between the pilots and the control tower and are examining the crew's rest schedules, medical histories and any food or medication consumed before the flight.

Records related to the aircraft's most recent maintenance checks are under scrutiny to identify possible technical lapses.

Fuel samples from the wreckage and airport storage tanks have been collected to rule out contamination or incorrect fuel use, and weather data from the time of the crash has been requested.

Officials said the scope of the investigation could be widened to include manufacturers and maintenance contractors if evidence suggests a structural failure or design flaw.

Gursel Tokmakoglu, former head of the Turkish air force's intelligence agency, said the crash should be treated as an international case given the multiple parties involved.

'The Libyan government chartered an aircraft from a foreign country. The aircraft was manufactured in another country. The pilots were from elsewhere. The passengers were Libyan, and the crash happened in Turkiye,' he said.

'If you also consider insurance companies and international aviation bodies, this is clearly a multinational incident,' Tokmakoglu added.

Earlier, Turkish Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said the black boxes could be sent to another country for further examination.

Tokmakoglu said Turkiye could either analyse the recorders domestically or transfer them abroad.

'Transferring the recorders can help ensure greater transparency and a clearer understanding of what happened, especially in a case involving so many international stakeholders,' he said.

Tokmakoglu said preliminary findings indicated that the aircraft transmitted the 7700 emergency 'squawk' code and that the crew reported an electrical malfunction, but warned against premature conclusions.

'In aviation, an electrical failure can trigger other problems,' he said, likening it to 'being admitted to intensive care for heart failure but dying later from a lung infection'.

Meanwhile, forensic examinations of General al-Haddad and the other victims were completed early on Saturday, and the bodies were repatriated to Libya following a ceremony at an airbase outside Ankara, Al Jazeera reported. (ANI)