An Algerian military transport plane has crashed in the north-east of the country, with 103 passengers and crew feared dead, local media said.
The plane – believed to be a Hercules C-130 – crashed in a mountainous area of Oum al-Bouaghi province.
It was en route to Constantine from Ouargla in bad weather, an “informed source” told radio station Ennahar.
The plane was said to have been carrying military personnel and family members.
Its original departure point is believed to have been the Sahara Desert city of Tamanrasset in the south, but it had made a stop in Ouargla.
Ennahar’s source said contact was lost with the military plane between Constantine and Oum al-Bouaghi.
A senior military official, Col Lahmadi Bouguern, told state media said that bad weather and gusty winds were the probable cause of the crash.
The plane was carrying 99 passengers – soldiers and their families – as well as four crew members, a security source told AFP news agency.
“There were no survivors,” the source added.
Ennahar reported that ambulances had been dispatched to the crash zone, which is some 380km (240 miles) east of the capital Algiers.
An Air Algerie Boeing 737 crashed on take-off from Tamanrasset in 2003, killing all but one of the 103 people on board.
