A private jet carrying Libya’s military chief, four other officers and three crew members crashed on Tuesday after take-off from Turkey’s capital, Ankara, killing everyone on board. Libyan officials said the cause of the crash was a technical malfunction on the plane.

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

Libyan Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah confirmed the death of General Muhammad Ali Ahmad al-Haddad and the others, saying in a statement on social media that the “tragic accident” took place as the delegation was returning home. The prime minister called it a “great loss” for Libya.

Al-Hadad was the top military commander in western Libya and played a crucial role in the ongoing UN-brokered efforts to unify Libya’s military, which has split, much like Libya’s institutions.

The four other officers who died in the crash were General Al-Fitouri Ghraibil, the head of Libya’s ground forces, Brigadier General Mahmoud Al-Qatawi, who led the military manufacturing authority, Mohammed Al-Asawi Diab, adviser to the chief of staff, and Mohammed Omar Ahmed Mahjoub, a military photographer with the chief of staff’s office.

Turkey did not immediately confirm the deaths, only that wreckage of the Falcon 50 type business jet had been found near the village of Kesikkavak, in Haymana, a district some 70km (about 43.5 miles) south of Ankara.