ammonnews.net

Ammon News - Alarabiya - An Algerian military transport plane carrying members of the armed forces and their relatives slammed into a mountain Tuesday in the country's rugged eastern region. A civil defense official said 102 people on board were killed but one managed to survive.

The plane crashed in a mountainous area in the Oum El Bouaghi province, about 500 km (300 miles) from the capital Algiers, Ennahar TV reported.

A military official, Colonel Lahmadi Bouguern, told the APS state news agency 99 passengers and four crew members had been on the plane, a U.S.-built C-130 Hercules.


Civil defense officials at the scene told journalists that women and children were among the dead at the snowy crash site. Local reporters said the plane could be seen broken into three parts.

The plane had taken off from the southern Saharan city of Tamanrasset and was heading to Constantine.

Officials have so far not given an official death toll.

"Unfavorable weather conditions and storms accompanied by snow in the region were behind the crash," the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Winds were 17-28 knots at the time, according to the aviation-safety.net website.

The worst plane crash in Algerian history occurred in 2003, when 102 people were killed after a civilian airliner crashed at the end of the runway in Tamanrasset. There was also a single survivor in that crash.

In November 2012, an Algerian military cargo plane crashed in southern France, killing all six people aboard.