Lone Survivor Found in Algerian Plane Crash

A sole survivor is being treated for head injuries after being found in the wreckage of a plane crash that killed 77 other people in eastern Algeria. The Hercules C-130 military transport plane hit a mountain in bad weather, reports the BBC. "The plane crashed into a mountain and exploded. Several bodies were burnt to ashes and could not be identified," a government official tells Reuters.

The survivor is a soldier, a former Algerian intelligence officer tells the AP, though there were also women and children aboard, presumably from military families. The North African country's president has declared three days of national mourning, calling the crash victims "martyrs for the country." The crash is the worst in Algeria since 2003, when a Boeing 737 crashed on takeoff, killing all but one of the 103 people on board. (More plane crash stories.)