text: ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — The Latest on the crash of a military plane in Algeria (all times local): 
   
   11:40 a.m. 
   
   Algerian emergency services say 181 people have been killed in a military plane crash and some survivors have been rescued. 
   
   Civil protection agency spokesman Farouk Achour told The Associated Press that the "provisional" death toll from the crash on Wednesday is 181. He said some passengers were "extracted with deep burns caused by the fuselage catching fire." 
   
   He said more than 300 emergency workers are working at the scene. 
   
   Algerian TV network Ennahar published images of body bags lined up in a field after the crash. 
   
   The crash occurred soon after takeoff from the Boufarik air base southwest of the capital Algiers. 
   
   ____ 
   
   10 a.m. 
   
   Algerian state radio says that more than 100 people were killed in a military plane crash southwest of the capital. 
   
   The radio report said the cause of the crash Wednesday near an air base in Boufarik remains unclear. 
   
   Algerian state news agency said the Soviet-designed Il-76 plane was headed for Bechar in southwest Algeria. 
   
   Emergency services have been dispatched to the site of the crash. 
   
   Boufarik is located in northern Algeria some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the capital, Algiers. 
   
   ____ 
   
   9:40 a.m. 
   
   Algeria's state news agency says that a military plane has crashed near the military base of Boufarik in Algeria. 
   
   The Algerie Presse service agency said the Ilyushin-type plane was headed for Bechar in southwest Algeria. 
   
   Emergency services have been dispatched to the site of the crash. No death toll was immediately available. 
   
   Boufarik is located in northern Algeria, near the Mediterranean sea, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the capital, Algiers. ||||| ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — At least 100 people were killed when a military plane carrying soldiers crashed soon after takeoff in a farm field in northern Algeria on Wednesday, officials said. 
   
   The cause of the crash was unclear, and an investigation has been opened, according to a Defense Ministry statement. 
   
   Local media reported that the plane crashed just after taking off. Emergency services converged on the area near the Boufarik military base after the crash. Footage from the scene showed thick black smoke coming off the field, as well as ambulances and Red Crescent vehicles arriving at the site. 
   
   "There are more than 100 deaths. We can't say exact how many at this point," Mohammed Achour, chief spokesman for the civil protection agency, told The Associated Press. 
   
   He said the plane was carrying soldiers. The Defense Ministry did not provide a death toll but expressed condolences to the victims' families. 
   
   The flight had just taken off from Boufarik, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) southwest of the capital Algiers, for a military base in Bechar in southwest Algeria, Achour said. It was scheduled to make a layover in Tindouf in southern Algeria, home to many refugees from the neighboring Western Sahara, a disputed territory annexed by Morocco. 
   
   The Soviet-designed Il-76 military transport plane crashed in an agricultural zone with no residents, Achour said. 
   
   The Il-76 model has been in production since 1970s and has an overall good safety record. It is widely used for both commercial freight and military transport. 
   
   The Algerian military operates several of the planes.
target: – Algeria's defense ministry says 257 people died when a military plane crashed soon after takeoff in a farm field in northern Algeria on Wednesday, per the AP. The Soviet-designed Il-76 military transport plane had departed Boufarik air base, 20 miles southwest of the capital Algiers, for a military base in Bechar in southwest Algeria, a civil protection agency rep tells the AP. Another rep, who initially gave the "provisional" death toll as 181, says some passengers were "extracted with deep burns caused by the fuselage catching fire" and more than 300 emergency workers are working at the scene, per the AP. Footage showed thick black smoke coming off the field, as well as ambulances and Red Crescent vehicles at the site. The defense ministry says an investigation is underway.