257 people died after an Algerian military plane crashed near an airbase outside the capital Algiers, according to officials. The plane came down near Boufarif airport shortly after taking off. The dead include the plane's 10 crew and 247 passengers, most of them members of the armed forces and their families, officials said.
Reuters reported that that plane was also carrying military personnel and members of Western Sahara's Polisario independence movement.
The aircraft was an Ilyushin II-76, and crashed 25 kilometres southwest of Algiers.
Dozens reportedly killed after military plane crashes into a residential area in #Algeriapic.twitter.com/9F59j76kr9
- Press TV (@PressTV) April 11, 2018
The tail fin of a plane could be seen above olive trees, with smoke and flames rising from the wreckage.
Hundreds of ambulances and dozens of fire trucks rushed to the scene.
In February 2014, 77 people died when a military plane carrying army personnel and family members crashed between Tamanrasset in southern Algeria and the eastern city of Constantine.
In July 2014 an Air Algerie passenger plane flying from Burkina Faso to Algiers crashed in northern Mali, killing all 116 people on board including 54 French nationals.
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