A military plane carrying numerous members of the Algerian military and their families crashed Wednesday near the country’s capital city of Algiers.
The crash, which occurred earlier today, is reported to have led to the death of 257 people (as at this writing).
The plane was travelling from Boufarik military airport, just west of Algiers, to Bechar and Tindouf in the south-west of the country, when it crashed just after take-off.
Most of those killed are Algerian military officers and their families, as well as crew members on the plane.
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has declared three days of national mourning for the crash and revealed an investigation into what caused it is underway.
The crash, according to the BBC, is the deadliest in the world since Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 went down in July 2014, killing 289. It is also the second deadliest plane crash since 2003.