More than 257 feared dead in Algerian military plane crash
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Reuters
- Posted On 11-04-2018, 01:59PM
ALGIERS - More than 257 people, including 10 crew members were killed when an Algerian military plane crashed into a field outside the capital on Wednesday, local media reported.
Television footage showed crowds gathering around the smoking and flaming wreckage near Boufarik airport southwest of Algiers.
A line of white body bags could be seen on the ground next to what media said was a Russian Ilyushin transport plane.
Rescue workers said 105 people died in the crash, local TV channels including Ennahar and Dzaïr reported.
Algeria’s defence ministry said the plane was heading for Tindouf in southwest Algeria, but crashed into a field on the perimeter of the airport.
The ministry issued a statement expressing condolences to families of the victims but gave no toll.
In February 2014, an Algerian Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules crashed in a mountainous area in eastern Algeria killing 77 passengers and leaving one survivor.
