257 die in military plane crash

No fewer than 257 people, including Western Sahara refugees, were killed when a military plane crashed near Algeria’s capital on Wednesday, with witnesses saying they saw a wing catch fire shortly after the plane took off.

Dozens of firefighters, rescue workers and military officials worked around the blackened fuselage of the aircraft, which had been ripped open near its wings.

Reuters reports that bits of mangled and smouldering debris were scattered across the field near Boufarik airport southwest of Algiers where people were searching for bodies among the rubble.

Earlier TV images showed flames and smoke billowing from the site of the crash, the country’s worst air disaster.