Algerian military plane crash kills 257

ALGIERS, Algeria - State TV said 257 people were killed when a military plane carrying soldiers crashed soon after takeoff in a farm field in northern Algeria on Wednesday.

Hundreds of ambulances and dozens of fire trucks with their sirens wailing rushed to the scene.

Television footage showed crowds gathering around the smoking and flaming wreckage near Boufarik military base, about 30 kilometers southwest of the capital Algiers. A line of white body bags could be seen on the ground next to the Russian-made transport plane.

The Defense Ministry said in a statement that 247 passengers and 10 crew members were killed. It said most of the victims are soldiers and their relatives. It said the victims' bodies have been transported to the Algerian army's central hospital in the town of Ain Naadja for identification.

It also expressed condolences to the victims' families.

The Defence Ministry blamed that crash on bad weather and an investigation has been opened.

Mohammed Achour, chief spokesman for the civil protection agency, said the plane was carrying soldiers.

The flight had just taken off from Boufarik for a military base in Bechar in southwest Algeria, Achour said. It was scheduled to make a layover in Tindouf, home to many refugees from the Western Sahara.

The Soviet-designed Il-76 military transport plane crashed in an agricultural zone with no residents, Achour said.

The Il-76 model has been in production since 1970s and has an overall good safety record. It is widely used for both commercial freight and military transport.

It was the first crash of an Algerian military plane since February 2014, when a US-built C-130 Hercules turboprop slammed into a mountain, killing at least 76 people and leaving just one survivor.

AP - Xinhua - Reuters - AFP

(China Daily 04/12/2018 page12)