{"id":22659,"date":"2014-02-11T21:18:13","date_gmt":"2014-02-11T20:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=22659"},"modified":"2014-02-11T21:18:13","modified_gmt":"2014-02-11T20:18:13","slug":"algerian-army-plane-crashes-scores-dead-one-survivor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/algerian-army-plane-crashes-scores-dead-one-survivor\/","title":{"rendered":"Algerian army plane crashes – scores dead, one survivor"},"content":{"rendered":"
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An Algerian military transport plane has crashed in mountains in the north-east of the country, killing most of the reported 103 passengers and crew on board.<\/p>\n

The Hercules C-130 crashed in Oum al-Bouaghi province, en route to Constantine, in bad weather conditions.<\/p>\n

One survivor has been found and the search continues, emergency official Col Farid Nechad told public radio.<\/p>\n

The plane is said to have been carrying military personnel and family members.<\/p>\n

The survivor is a soldier who is now being treated for head injuries at a military hospital in Algiers, a retired Algerian intelligence official told Associated Press news agency, on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n

Women and children were among 77 bodies recovered from the crash site so far.<\/p>\n

Dozens of rescue workers are said to have reached the scene, despite the mountainous terrain and wintry weather conditions.<\/p>\n

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika sent his condolences to families of the victims and has decreed three days of national mourning to begin on Wednesday, said state TV.<\/p>\n

‘Storm and snowfall’The plane was carrying 99 passengers – soldiers and their families – as well as four crew members.<\/p>\n

The plane’s original departure point was the Sahara Desert garrison city of Tamanrasset, 1,500km (950 miles) south of Constantine, but it had made a stop in Ouargla.<\/p>\n

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A source told radio station Ennahar – which has close links to the government and army – that contact was lost with the military plane between Oum al-Bouaghi and Constantine, as it may have been starting to make its descent prior to landing.<\/p>\n

It crashed into Djebel Fertas mountain, some 380km (240 miles) east of the capital Algiers.<\/p>\n

“Very bad weather conditions, involving a storm and heavy snowfall, were behind the crash,” the defence ministry was quoted as saying in a statement.<\/p>\n

This is the worst plane crash in Algeria for more than 10 years and the third involving an Algerian military Hercules.<\/p>\n

An Air Algerie Boeing 737 crashed on take-off from Tamanrasset in 2003, killing all but one of the 103 people on board.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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