Military plane crash near airport kills nearly 250 people

Recently a plane crashed in Algeria, leaving no survivors according to the reports. Here are the details of the crash.

A plane crash in Algeria has reportedly left 257 people dead, according to the nation’s leading TV station. This brings the initial death toll of 105 to a significantly higher number. 

The military reported that the Russian-made Ilyushing-76 cargo plane was transporting of troops and equipment when it crashed in Boufarik, outside the country’s capital, just after 8 am local time on Wednesday.

The passengers included members of Western Sahara’s Polisario independence movement.

“There are more than 100 deaths. We can’t say exactly how many at this point,” Mohammed Achour, chief spokesman for the civil protection agency told the media initially.

The cause of the crash was unclear, and an investigation has been opened, according to a Defense Ministry statement. Emergency services converged on the area.

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The flight had just taken off from Boufarik, about 30 kilometers southwest of the capital Algiers, for a military base in Bechar in southwest Algeria, chief spokesman for the civil protection agency said. It was scheduled to make a layover in Tindouf in southern Algeria, home to many refugees from neighboring Western Sahara, a disputed territory annexed by Morocco.

Footage captured by witnesses shows a huge plume of black smoke billowing from an area near the runway.

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It was also unclear what type of aircraft went down in a fireball: initial reports stated that it involved an Ilyushin-76 type aircraft, but a  plane-tracking site reported it was an Il-78 cargo plane. The Soviet-designed military transport plane crashed in an agricultural zone with no residents, Achour said.

As many as 14 ambulances and 10 fire engines were dispatched to the horror blaze and dozens of bodies were pulled from the wreckage, according to local reports. 

All roads around the airport were closed to help emergency services carry out a desperate rescue mission.

An Algerian military source told local news broadcaster that there are no survivors.