Algerian plane crash kills 97
ALGIERS (Reuters) – An Algerian plane has crashed, killing 97 passengers and crew in the southern province of Tamanrasset deep in the Sahara desert, the official Algerian news agency APS reports.
Quoting an airport source, it said the Boeing 737-200 of the national airline, Air Algerie, crashed on Thursday shortly after take-off from Tamanrasset airport at 3.45 p.m. (2.45 p.m. British time).
It gave no further details.
Tamanrasset is in the middle of the Sahara in the far south of the vast former French colony. The area attracts limited tourism, mainly from France, despite an Islamic insurgency that has racked the North African Muslim country for the past decade.
In January, an unarmed man on drugs, not linked to the guerrillas, tried to hijack an Algerian airliner during a domestic flight but was overpowered by the crew.
In the worst recent air crash, 302 soldiers and crew died last month when an Iranian military plane crashed in southeastern Iran.
By: Comet - 7th March 2003 at 09:26
Time to retire 732 maybe?
As Kabir said, there are many 732s flying the world over, but they are an older type and maybe it’s time to replace them with newer technology 737s. It’s always tragic when an aircraft crashes and there are fatalities, but would we hear less of this happening if there was a rigid “retirement” limit on all aircraft which are so many years old or have exceeded a set number of flying hours. The airframe cannot last forever, and such tragedies need to be prevented as best we can.
By: KabirT - 7th March 2003 at 08:06
hmmm and still there are so many 732s flying world over.
By: Bhoy - 7th March 2003 at 04:36
A passenger plane has crashed on take-off in southern Algeria, killing all but one of the 103 people on board.
The sole survivor, a young man believed to be one of the six-person crew, was critically injured, local radio reports said.
Witnesses said one of the engines of the Air Algerie aircraft caught fire as it took off in the remote city of Tamanrasset in the Sahara Desert.
The plane – a Boeing 737 – veered off the runway and crashed several hundred metres (yards) further on, they said.
It is believed to be the first accident in the history of Algeria’s national airline, set up after independence in 1962.
The flight was heading for the capital, Algiers, some 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) away.
The Algerian Government has set up crisis units in the capital and Tamanrasset to deal with the emergency, and the transport and interior ministers have gone to the crash scene.
Seven French citizens were among the dead, airport officials were quoted as saying.
In Paris, the foreign ministry confirmed the report without giving details, according to the French news agency AFP.
Ancient site
As the investigations into the crash began, a spokesman for Air Algerie said terrorism was not suspected.
“There was a mechanical problem on take-off,” spokesman Hamid Hamdi told the Associated Press.
But he insisted the plane had been well maintained.
Tamanrasset lies at the base of the Hoggar Mountains in the Sahara Desert.
The area, known for its ancient archaeological sites and prehistoric paintings and engravings, attracts some tourism, despite the Islamic insurgency that has convulsed Algeria since 1992.
It has long been a major centre of trade in the region and for the Tuareg nomad tribes, known for their blue robes.
from BBC News Online
By: EGNM - 7th March 2003 at 00:30
Sad news 🙁 – now risen to 103 – 1 flight attendant survived in a critical condition
By: Bhoy - 6th March 2003 at 16:38
Air Algerie 737-200
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March 6, 2003 at 4:27 pm