Incident Overview
A charter flight carrying French technicians from Marseille to Hassi Messaoud, with an intermediate stop in Algiers, experienced an electrical short-circuit in the cockpit panel during night cruise. Smoke spread in the cockpit, prompting the crew to declare an emergency and divert to Biskra Airport.
Sequence of Events
While descending toward Biskra, the aircraft went out of control and crashed in flames in a desert area near Aïn Naga, approximately 40 kilometers southeast of Biskra. Both pilots sustained serious injuries, while all 35 other occupants were killed.
Official Findings
The probable cause of the accident was determined to be an electrical short-circuit in the cockpit panel that occurred in flight.