The latest update says at least 257 people have died at the deadly military plane crash in northern Algeria. The incident happened shortly after the aircraft took off from Boufarik military airport near the capital Algiers in the morning.
The plane, an Ilyushin Il-76, was travelling to Bechar in the south-west of the country.
Most of the fatalities are army personnel and their families. Emergency services were dispatched to the agricultural zone with no residents where the aircraft crashed. Boufarik Airport is a military air base located on the northern coast of Algeria, some 19 miles (30km) from the capital Algiers.
The cause of the crash is yet to be known.
The army chief will be visiting the crash site and has instructed for initiating necessary investigation protocols.
It is the deadliest plane crash since July 2014, when all 298 people on board Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 died when it was shot down over eastern Ukraine.
