Algerian military transport plan crashes killing over a 100 people, authorities say

An Algerian military transport plane crashed Wednesday just after taking off from an air base south of the capital, Algiers, killing at least 105 people, according statement by civil defense carried by local media.

The Russian-built Ilyushin Il-76 was headed to the southwestern city of Bechar when it crashed just outside the Boufarik military air base in a farm field, said a statement from Algeria’s Ministry of Defense.

There was no immediate information about the cause of the crash. The military statement added that Gen. Gaid Salah, head of the army, had gone to the site and ordered an investigation into the crash.

“There are more than 100 deaths. We can’t say exact how many at this point,” Mohammed Achour, chief spokesman for the civil protection agency, told the Associated Press.

Earlier the news website TSA-Algerie cited a provisionary toll from civil protection of 105.

Television images showed black smoke billowing from the crash site, some 20 miles south of Algiers on the way to the city of Blida. Rescue personnel moved around the shattered plane.

Later images showed most of the plane’s fuselage intact with the tail sticking out of the field.

The Ilyushin Il-76 was first built in the 1970s and used as a transport plane often in rugged underdeveloped parts of the world and has the ability to use unpaved runways.

In February 2014, another Algerian military transport plane, this time a U.S.-built C-130, crashed into a snowy mountain in eastern Algeria killing 77 people with just a single survivor.

Some of the victims of that crash were civilians as military dependents often used the planes to travel as well as troops.

In 2003, another Algerian C-130 transport crashed when its engine caught fire near the Boufarik air base, killing 10 people.

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