AIR ALGERIE CRASH KILLING ALL 116 ON BOARD

Air Algerie flight AH5017 crashed yesterday. The wreckage has been found in a desert in northern Mali, Burkina Faso as reported by officials and adding that there were no survivors.

This was the third airline disaster in the past week following the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 which claimed the lives of 298 people and the crash of a TransAsia Airways plane in Taiwan in which 48 people died.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius was quoted by CNN as saying that France had helped in the search for the Air Algerie aircraft along with Algerian and UN personnel in the region.

Flight AH5017, which was carrying at least 116 people, vanished from the radar after being asked to change its route at 0138 GMT (9.38am MYT) because of a storm in the area.

The passenger list of the missing Air Algerie flight included 50 French citizens, said the report, adding that Mali would lead the investigation into the crash.

Authorities lost contact with the aircraft about 50 minutes after it took off from Burkina Faso at 0117 (9.17am MYT) and was supposed to land in Algiers at 0510 GMT (1.10pm MYT), the report said. Mali lies between Burkina Faso and Algeria.

• CNN meteorologist Mari Ramos was quoted as saying that the flight path would take the plane through a region of thunderstorms.
• Thunderstorms are a very common occurrence at this time of year in the area, it was reported.
• The plane was carrying 110 passengers and 6 crew members, Air Algerie sales manager Zoheir Houaoui was reported as saying.
• The passenger manifest includes 50 people from France; 24 from Burkina Faso; eight Lebanese; six Algerians; five Canadians; four Germans; two from Luxembourg; one from Mali; one Cameroonian; one Belgian; one Ukrainian; one Romanian; one Swiss; one Nigerian; and one Egyptian. 
• CNN reported Houaoui as saying that the six crew members were Spanish.

A Spanish private company – Swiftair – owned the plane, CNN said, but it was being operated by Air Algerie.

Air Algerie is Algeria’s national airline with flights to 28 countries, the report said.

In March 2003, 102 people on board a domestic Air Algerie flight were killed and 1 survived after the plane crashed upon take-off.

Source: Agencies