Military plane crashes in Morocco: 78 killed

Added by Erik West on July 26, 2011

A military plane crashed in a mountainous region in southern Morocco on Tuesday. The crash is the country’s worst air disaster.

Three people may have survived with severe injuries. The plan was carrying 9 crew members, 12 civilians, and 60 members Moroccan military personnel. Inclement weather and fog are believed to have been contributing factors. The plane is a C-130 that belongs to Morocco’s Royal Armed Forces.

The crash site, five miles from the city of Guelmim, is about 160km from a disputed territory in Western Sahara where forces have been fighting with separatists for decades.

Morocco’s worst plane crash until this time occurred in 1944 when 44 people died when a Moroccan plane crashed on its way from Agadir, a southern resort, to Casablanca.