BREAKING: More than 250 feared dead in plane crash
A PLANE carrying more than 200 soldiers has crashed in Algeria with everyone on board feared dead.
The transport aircraft plummeted to the ground shortly after taking off at 8am local time from Boufarik Airport, according to local media.
Dramatic footage broadcast on Algerian TV shows black smoke billowing wreckage of the transport plane in the middle of what appears to be an agricultural field.
The exact number of casualties has yet to be confirmed, though Algerian state TV has reported at least 257 fatalities so far.Initial reports suggested around 100 passengers had died, though the figure has increased as more information becomes available.Related articles
Airlive has quoted an Algerian military source as confirming there were ‘around 200’ people on board.
The source added nobody had survived the crash.
Algerian news outlet Dia Algerie has reported emergency services are on the scene, with 130 members of the civil protection unit and more than a dozen ambulances in attendance.
The news outlet added the crash is the biggest disaster in the history of the Algerian Air Force.
ALG24
The plane was bound for Tindouf in southern Algeria, a region bordering the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
The area is home to a number of refugee camps which house civilians caught up in the long-running conflict with neighbouring Morocco.
An Algerian official confirmed 26 members of the Western Saharan Polisario Front were onboard the aircraft when it went down.
Troops from the Polisario independence movement are fighting to end the Moroccan presence in Western Sahara.
Boufarik Airport is a military air base located on the northern coast of Algeria, some 19 miles (30km) from the capital Algiers.
The installation is used by larger transport aircraft and is the home base for the Air Transport fleet of the Algerian Air Force.
The crashed plane is reported to have been either an II-76 or II-78 model, aircraft which were originally developed by the Soviet Union and later Russia.
The Algerian Air Force operates over a dozen of the II-76 variants which are commonly used as transports for troops or weapons.
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