Algeria: 257 people killed in a deadly plane crash 

The Soviet-designed Il-76 military transport plane was scheduled to make a layover in Tindouf in southern Algeria.

Image: AFP PHOTO / Ryad KRAMDI

Algiers: At least 257 people were killed in a military plane crashed. The incident happened soon after takeoff in a farm field in northern Algeria on Wednesday.

#UPDATE Around 100 army personnel aboard Algerian plane which crashed shortly after taking off from #Boufarik airbase outside capital Algiers, military source says https://t.co/IZ6JjbX0Pt pic.twitter.com/2PTTCvgtxb

— AFP news agency (@AFP) April 11, 2018

Defense Ministry statement, the cause of the plane crash is still unclear, and an investigation has been opened. The flight had just taken off from Boufarik, about 30 kilometers southwest of the capital Algiers, for a military base in Bechar in southwest Algeria. The Soviet-designed Il-76 military transport plane was scheduled to make a layover in Tindouf in southern Algeria but it crashed in an agricultural zone with no residents.