Algeria crash: Bodies of 257 victims being identified

A GRAB from a video brodcast by Algeria's Ennahar satellite television channel shows the scene of the crash of a transport plane, carrying around 100 Algerian army personnel on board.

ALGIERS - Bodies of the 257 people killed in Algeria's worst aviation disaster are being identified at a military hospital and returned to families for burial, while officials provide no new information about the crash.

Army Chief of Staff General Ahmed Gaid Salah on Thursday gave instructions to speed up the identification process at the Ain Naadja military hospital in Algiers, the Algerian Defence Ministry said.

Many of the victims were badly burned in Wednesday's crash of a military transport plane after it took off and plunged into a field, a Defence Ministry statement said.

Salah assisted at prayers as the remains of the soldiers, relatives and refugees killed were prepared for journeys to homes around the vast country.

The general has ordered an investigation of the crash, but officials have not said if flight data recorders have been recovered from the wreckage, how many people were on the plane or whether anyone survived.

Sofiane Tehar, a young firefighter at the scene of Wednesday's disaster, said it was unlikely anyone would have survived, "given the state of the plane, completely burned."

"Everyone was burned," Tehar said, adding that he was at the crash site for 10 hours and "didn't hear anyone talking about survivors. It's impossible. It's impossible." As the identification process continued, the body of co-pilot Rabia Seddiki arrived at his family's home in a working-class suburb east of Algiers in a flag-draped coffin on Thursday. Private TV station En Nahar showed firefighters carrying the casket to the home where Seddiki was born 41 years ago.

Seddiki's father said his son had been a pilot for 15 years, beginning his training at military aviation school to fulfill a dream, and "he dies a martyr." He left three children, ages 2-8.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika ordered three days of mourning in Algeria and special prayers at all mosques were held yesterday, the Muslim holy day.