KABUL (SW): At least 257 passengers were killed as a result of a plane crash near the Boufarik airbase in Algeria, 200 of whom were military personnel.
Algeria’s Defense Ministry said the plane slammed into a field shortly after takeoff from a military base in Boufarik, however, the reason for the crash is still being investigated.
Scores of emergency workers and 14 ambulances rushed to the crash site, immediately transferring wounded to the hospital.
Some local newspapers reported that some Polisario group members were among the passengers. Algeria is a longtime backer of Polisario, the group that has been fighting since 1973 for independence for Western Sahara, which is controlled by Morocco.
The plane was headed to Bechar, in the southwest of the country, but was scheduled to stop in Tindouf, an area on Algeria’s border with the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
This incident is the deadliest after the 2003 crash which killed 102 people.
ENDS
