Algerian Military Plane carrying 200 passengers crashes; fears on no survivor left

Algiers, April 11: A military plane crashed near the military base of Boufarik in Algeria might have left 200 people dead. The plane, an Ilyushin Il-78, was reportedly carrying more than 100 military personnel. All people on board are feared dead.

Emergency services have been dispatched to the site of the crash. No death toll was immediately available. Reports said the aircraft was a Russian-made Ilyushin transport plane that crashed shortly after taking off on a flight bound for Bechar in the south-west of the country.

Dozens of emergency response vehicles, including at least 14 ambulances, were sent to the scene in northern Algeria. The Boufarik airport is a base for Algeria’s air force. Visuals showed thick smoke billowing from the site of the crash. Boufarik is located in northern Algeria, near the Mediterranean sea, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the capital, Algiers.

In February 2014, 76 people were killed when a Lockheed C-130H Hercules transport plane crashed in a mountainous area near Ain Kercha, south of Constantine Airport.