A plane crash in Algeria has reportedly left more than 200 people dead, local media reports. The military aircraft reportedly went down near an airport at Boufarik — less than 20 miles from the capital Algiers. It had been transporting dozens of troops and equipment when it crashed just after 8am local time. State media reports that the Soviet-designed Il-76 plane was headed for Bechar in southwest Algeria, and  the cause of the crash remains unclear.

Footage captured by witnesses shows a huge plume of black smoke billowing from an area near the runway. As many as 14 ambulances and ten fire engines were dispatched to the horror blaze and dozens of bodies were pulled from the wreckage, according to local reports. Emergency services have been dispatched to the site of the crash.

Television footage showed black smoke billowing near a motorway and a crowd of security officials and others standing in a field next to the crash site.

All roads around the airport were closed to help emergency services carry out a desperate rescue mission. The tail fin of a plane could be seen above olive trees, with smoke and flames rising from the wreckage.

Boufarik is located in northern Algeria, near the Mediterranean sea, some 20 miles from the capital.

But an Algerian military source told local news broadcaster Al-Hadath that there are no survivors.

Just in February 2018, a plane crash in Iran killed all the 66 passengers on board, including a child. The plane crashed into the snow-covered Dena mountain in central Iran.

The Aseman Airlines plane – which had reportedly made an emergency landing earlier in the month – was flying from the capital Tehran to Yasuj when it vanished from radar about an hour after take-off.

It was reported that all 60 passengers and six crew members on the ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop plane were killed.