Mauritania Plane Crash Kills 94; Sandstorm Cited
An Air Mauritania passenger plane crashed Friday at an airport in the central part of the West African nation, killing 94 of the 101 people on board, aviation authorities said.
A sandstorm appeared to be the cause of the accident, according to the officials. But they said they were receiving different accounts from the scene as to how the storm caused the plane to crash as it was landing at Tidjikja, in a mountainous region of Mauritania.
One report said the plane exploded when it touched down after experiencing landing difficulties during the sandstorm. Another said the plane exploded 82 feet above ground after it flew into the sandstorm.
Most, if not all, of the passengers were Mauritanians, the Mauritanian Press Agency said.
The plane was on a domestic flight from the capital, Nouakchott, to Tidjikja, a regional capital about 250 miles east of Nouakchott, the agency said.
The plane went down shortly after 9 a.m. Rescue teams were at work searching for victims and aiding survivors, the agency said.
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