Plane crash near Constantine
| Plane crash near Constantine | |
|---|---|
.jpg) License plate number of the aircraft involved in the accident: 7T-WHB |
|
| Accident summary | |
| place | Approach for landing at Constantine Airport |
| date | 11th of February 2014 |
| Fatalities | 77 |
| Survivors | 1 |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | C-130 Hercules |
| operator | Algerian Air Force |
| Departure airport | Tamanrasset |
| Stopover | Ouargla |
| Destination airport | Constantine |
| crew | 4th |
| Lists of aviation accidents | |
The plane crash near Constantine occurred on February 11, 2014, when a Lockheed C-130 Hercules of the Algerian Air Force crashed on the ground while approaching Constantine Airport in the Algerian province of the same name. 77 people died in the accident.
Course of events
The C-130 Hercules with four turbo propeller engines took off from the oasis town of Tamanrasset in southern Algeria with 99 passengers and four crew members on board. The military transport was on its way to Constantine in northern Algeria. During a stopover in Ouargla , some passengers disembarked.
Before the crash when approaching the airport Mohamed Boudiaf in the city of Constantine, communication between the Algerian air traffic control and the aircraft is said to have been broken off. The machine was in the instrument approach procedure due to the poor visibility conditions . After the accident, some media reported that the machine had grazed the mountain Djebel Ta Fertas before the crash . The accident site in the Oum El Bouaghi region at an altitude of around 1400 meters was difficult to access for the emergency services. The rescue teams had to advance into the mountainous terrain on foot. By the evening of February 12, more than 70 bodies had been recovered. Numerous civil and military helpers were mobilized for the rescue work. Only two months earlier, in December 2013, there had been an exercise in the crash region that simulated a plane crash with 55 victims. According to official data from the Ministry of Defense, 77 people died in the crash. One passenger survived the accident. According to the Defense Ministry, a thunderstorm and snowfall were the likely cause.
Reactions
Immediately after the accident became known, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika declared a three-day state mourning.
The German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD) reacted to the news in Berlin “with great dismay”. In a letter to his Algerian counterpart Ramtane Lamamra , he expressed his deep condolences to the relatives and the Algerian people in the face of this terrible misfortune.
Individual evidence
- ↑ fr-online.de. 77 dead in plane crash
- ↑ Der Standard, accessed February 12, 2014
- ↑ dpa report in the Frankfurter Rundschau https://www.fr.de/panorama/tote-flugzeugabsturz-11223808.html
Coordinates: 36 ° 0 ′ 1.7 ″ N , 6 ° 41 ′ 24.1 ″ E