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Algeria military plane crashes on take-off, 100 dead

April 11, 2018 at 11:02 am

A military plane crash in Algeria on 11 April 2018 [Twitter]

More than 100 people are expected to have been killed after a military plane crashed near the Algerian district of Blida, near the Boufarik airport, this morning.

According to a military source on site in Boufarik, one of the four engines of the aircraft caught fire on take-off before it exploded. An initial assessment by the first Civil Protection units on site has found that at least 100 have died in the explosion but more casualties are expected to follow as the story continues to develop.

The aircraft, belonging to the Algerian army, was an Iliouchine Il-76 model and long-haul military transport aircraft which was taking the Bechar-Tindouf flight before it crashed inside the airport enclosure.

Some 200 people were reportedly on board the plane. Dozens of ambulances and large relief supplies were dispatched to the scene.