ALGIERS: More than 250 people including members of Western Sahara’s Polisario independence movement were killed when a military plane crashed in a field outside Algeria’s capital on Wednesday, officials said.
Television footage showed crowds gathering around the smoking and flaming wreckage near Boufarik airport southwest of Algiers. A line of white body bags could be seen on the ground next to what media said was a Russian Ilyushin transport plane.
Military personnel were on board the plane when it came down near Boufarik airport, local channel Ennahar TV reported. There was no immediate confirmation from authorities but locals sources say close to 200 may have died.
Television footage showed black smoke billowing near a motorway and a crowd of security officials and others standing in a field next to the crash site.
The tail fin of a plane could be seen above olive trees, with smoke and flames rising from the wreckage.
Dozens reportedly killed after military plane crashes into a residential area in #Algeria pic.twitter.com/9F59j76kr9
— Press TV (@PressTV) April 11, 2018
A member of Algeria’s ruling FLN party told the private Ennahar TVstation the dead included 26 members of Polisario, an Algerian-backed group fighting for the independence of neighbouring Western Sahara – a territory also claimed by Morocco in a long-running dispute.
The plane was heading to Tindouf, an area on Algeria’s border with Western Sahara, but crashed on the airport’s perimeter, Algeria’s defence ministry said.
