Polish president sends condolences after Algerian plane crash
PR dla Zagranicy
Victoria Bieniek
12.04.2018 08:00
Polish President Andrzej Duda has sent condolences to his Algerian counterpart after a military plane crashed, killing 257 people in the country's north.
The Presidential Palace in Warsaw. Photo: Marcin Białek/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
The majority of victims were soldiers and their families.
"It is with deep sadness that I receive news about the crash of an Algerian military plane in which so many people were killed," Duda said.
"Poland joins Algeria in mourning and sends its deepest condolences … to the families of all the victims," he added.
At least 257people were killed when a Russian-made Il-76 transport plane crashed in a field shortly after taking off on Wednesday morning from the Boufarik air base, some 30 kilometres southwest of the Algerian capital.
Poland's IAR news agency said that a witness reported hearing an explosion and seeing a "heap of bodies".
It is the worst air disaster in the country's history. (vb)
Source: IAR, prezydent.pl