The Libyan army's chief of staff, Lieutenant General Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad, died on Tuesday evening in a plane crash shortly after departing Türkiye's capital, Ankara.

Libyan Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah confirmed al-Haddad's death in a statement on Facebook.

"This great tragedy is a great loss for the nation, the military establishment, and all the people," the statement read. "We have lost men who served their country with sincerity and dedication and were an example of discipline, responsibility, and national commitment."

Four other officers, General Al-Fitouri Gharibil, head of Libya's ground forces; Brigadier General Mahmoud Al-Qatawi, who led the Military Manufacturing Authority; Muhammad Al-Asawi Diab, an adviser to the chief of staff; and Muhammad Omar Ahmed Mahjoub, a military photographer with the chief of staff's office, and three crew members also died in the crash.

The identities of the three crew members were not immediately released.

In a post on X, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said contact with the Dassault Falcon 50 business jet was lost at 20:52 local time (17:52 GMT), about 42 minutes after it took off from Ankara's Esenboga Airport.

According to Yerlikaya, the jet had requested an emergency landing while over Ankara's Haymana district, but no further contact was established.

In a later post on X, Yerlikaya added that the plane's wreckage was spotted near Kesikkavak village in Haymana, some 70 kilometers (about 43.5 miles) south of Ankara.

Search and rescue operations continue at the scene, according to a statement from Burhanettin Duran, head of the Turkish presidential communications office.

Early on Wednesday, Turkish authorities found the voice recorder and black box from the private jet carrying the army chief and the others.

Tributes have begun pouring in for the army chief.

The head of Libya's Presidency Council, Mohamed al-Menfi, described the deaths in a statement posted on X as "a grave loss for the Libyan military establishment and for the entire nation."

Libya's Government of National Unity has declared three days of national mourning and extended condolences in a statement to the families of the victims and to their colleagues in the Libyan Armed Forces.

The statement said all state institutions will fly flags at half-mast, and official ceremonies and celebrations will be suspended during the three-day mourning period.

Al-Haddad was the top military commander in western Libya and played a crucial role in the ongoing United Nations-brokered efforts to unify the country, which has been divided since 2014 following the NATO-backed revolt that toppled and killed longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi.

The Libyan delegation was in Ankara for high-level defense talks aimed at boosting military cooperation between the two countries, according to Turkish officials.

CGTN's Dinah Matengo contributed to this report.