摩洛哥军用飞机坠毁 78人遇难

Seventy-eight people were killed when a Moroccan military aircraft crashed into a mountain in the south of the country, the army says.

摩洛哥军方称，一架军用飞机撞到南部一座山上，78人死亡。

The army said three other people were severely¹ wounded in the crash, in what is thought to be one of Morocco's deadliest air disasters in years.

The C-130 Hercules aircraft crashed near Guelmim, just north of the disputed Western Sahara territory.

Officials have blamed the accident on poor weather.

"Above all, it was the fog and bad weather conditions that are believed to be behind this accident. But for the moment, we don't have enough information," AFP news agency quoted an official from the interior ministry² as saying.

A local resident told Reuters news agency there was thick fog at the time of the crash.

National mourning

The plane was travelling from Dakhla, in the Western Sahara, to Kinitra in northern Morocco.

It crashed at about 09:00 (08:00 GMT) as it was attempting to make a scheduled stop at a military airbase some 10km (six miles) east of Guelmim.

It was carrying 81 people: nine crew members, 60 troops and 12 civilians³.

Forty-two bodies have been found. The search continues for the others.

King Mohammed VI has declared three days of national mourning and ordered that prayers of remembrance be held on Friday in all mosques⁴（清真寺） .

The king has also sent a message of condolence（哀悼） to the families of the victims.

The mineral-rich, mainly desert territory of Western Sahara is the subject of a decades-long dispute between Morocco and the Algerian-backed Polisario Front. Most of it has been under Moroccan control since 1976.