Tuesday 11 February 2014

New: (FOREIGN)-BREAKING NEWS: 102 People Killed In A Plane‬ Crash‬ In Algeria‬ (UPDATED)

An Algerian military transport plane has crashed in the north-east of the country, killing 102 people. One person survived, an emergency services official told state radio.

A Hercules C-130 similar to the plane in the photo reported crashed 500km east of Algiers. Photo: Getty Images
"We have found a survivor and the search continues," Colonel Farid Nechad said on Tuesday.

According to Al Jazeera, the survivor was taken to a hospital in Constantine, where the plane was scheduled to land.

Earlier reports said that all 103 people on board were killed.

The plane, a C-130 Hercules aircraft, was reportedly flying "in poor weather conditions" and crashed into Djebel Fertas mountain shortly before it was to land in Constantine.

A senior military official disclosed to the official APS news agency that 99 passengers and four crew members had been on board the plane.

At least 57 fatalities, among them children, have been pulled from the wreckage.

Colonel Lahmadi Bouguern also said that bad weather and gusty winds were probably the cause of the crash.

The transport plane took off from Algeria's southern Tamanrasset province and was bound for the eastern city of Constantine, 350km east of Algiers, Reuters said.

Witnesses in the area told the Associated Press news agency that the plane clipped a mountain and then crashed.

A local radio station Ennahar reports that ambulances have been dispatched to the crash zone, which is some 380km (240 miles) east of the capital Algiers.

Military and civilian personnel were deployed for a search and rescue operation, the independent El Watannewspaper reported.

This plane crash would be the worst in Algeria since 2003 when an Air Algerie jet crashed shortly after takeoff from Tamanrasset, killing 102 people.

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