Summary Under investigation Crew 4 Survivors 1 Number of deaths 77 Operator Algerian Air Force Location Oum El Bouaghi Province | Passengers 74 Fatalities 77 Date 11 February 2014 Injuries (nonfatal) 1 Survivor 1 | |
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Site Near Aïn Kercha, Oum El Bouaghi Province, Algeria Similar 2014 Lao People's Liberatio, 2014 Santos Cessna C, Nepal Airlines Flight 183, Sepahan Airlines Flight 5915, 2014 Armenian Mil Mi‑24 | ||
On 11 February 2014, an Algerian Air Force Lockheed C-130H-30 Hercules aircraft crashed into Djebel Fertas mountain near Aïn Kercha, Oum El Bouaghi Province, Algeria; with 74 passengers and 4 crew on board. Seventy-seven bodies were discovered at the site, along with one survivor.
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Preliminary reports suggest that bad weather conditions might have caused the crash. Eyewitness accounts describe the aircraft clipping a mountain before crashing. This was the first reported air disaster in Algeria since the 2003 crash of Air Algérie Flight 6289. The accident is undergoing investigation.
Aircraft
The aircraft was a US-manufactured C-130 Hercules with the registration number 7T-WHM. Lockheed Martin confirmed it sold C-130H aircraft to Algeria from 1981 to 1990. As of 2011, Algeria had 16 of the type according to FlightGlobal.
Weather conditions
Algerian defence ministry said the crash was likely caused by bad weather, including a storm and cascading snow, which Algerian aviation experts said most likely had led to poor visibility.
According to AccuWeather, at the time of the crash "an area of low pressure moving through the region was producing widespread showers mixed with snow in the higher terrain of the area"; meteorologist Eric Leister added that, "along with the rain and snow, wind gusts more than 30 mph (48 km/h) were reported in several locations in the region".
Crash
An Algerian Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft crashed into Djebel Fertas mountain near Aïn Kercha, Oum El Bouaghi Province, killing 77 people and leaving one survivor. The passengers included soldiers and members of their families. Contact with the aircraft was reportedly lost between Constantine and Oum El Bouaghi just before noon and air traffic controllers dispatched helicopters to search for it. The sole survivor, a soldier, was taken to a military hospital in Constantine due to injuries from head trauma. The initial casualty count indicated 103 deaths, but was later revised by the government manifest list.
Investigation
Recovery teams located one of the two flight recorders, according to El Watan. Emergency services had recovered 76 bodies from the site.
Reaction
Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced three days of state mourning starting 12 February, while also praising the dead soldiers as "martyrs". The defence ministry said it had established an investigative commission and that army chief of staff and deputy defence minister Ahmed Gaid Salah would visit the crash site.