At least 257 people died after a military plane carrying a large number of Algerian troops crashed on Wednesday near Boufarik town, BBC reported, quoting the defence ministry.

Most of the people on the plane were military personnel and their family members. No one on board is expected to have survived the crash, an unidentified military official told the Al Arabiya news channel. The Boufarik military airport is located near the national Capital of Algiers.

Civil protection agency spokesperson Farouk Achour told AP that some passengers were “extracted with deep burns caused by the fuselage catching fire”. Over 300 emergency workers and volunteers were at the scene.

Twenty-six members of Polisario Front, a group seeking independence from Morocco in the Western Sahara region and supported by Algeria, are reportedly among the dead, BBC said.

The plane, an Ilyushin Il-78, crashed shortly after it took off from the military base, according to Al Jazeera. Images on the internet showed thick smoke rising from the site of the crash.