Algeria: 17 killed in a military plane crash over houses

At least 17 persons were killed in an Algerian military transport US- made Hercules plane over a residential area to the south of the capital Algiers.

Rescue terams at the site of the incident which resulted from "technical defect" said that five members of the plane team were killed in addition to two women and three children who were in the house which the plane destroyed upon its fall. Other 7 persons including children who were in the street near the site of the incident were also killed.

The plane was carrying out a flight when it had a technical defect, the crew diverted its track so as not to be crashed over the highway which links the capital with al-Bleida and adjoins Bu Freqi air base from which the plane had taken off and where a great part of the Algerian military aviation is stationed.

The director of Bu Freqi air base Muhammad Hammadi said that "preliminary information indicate that a technical defect hit the plane and led to its fall," stressing that Algerian pilots are "of high efficiency."

Witnesses said they saw fire coming out of the plane which had the "S.130" logo before it fell over the houses in Bani Marid town, to the south of Bu Freqi base, 30 Km to the south of Algiers. The incident resulted in burning five houses with partial destruction of many of them.