UPDATED: Contact lost with Air Algerie plane from Burkina Faso

24 Jul, 2014 - 12:07 0 Views
UPDATED: Contact lost with Air Algerie plane from Burkina Faso File Photo of Air Algerie Plane

The Sunday Mail

File Photo of Air Algerie Plane

File Photo of Air Algerie Plane

Authorities have lost contact with an Air Algerie flight en route from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso to Algiers with 110 passengers on board,Algeria’s APS state news agency and a Spanish airline company said today.

APS said authorities lost contact with flight AH 5017 an hour after it took off from Burkina Faso.

Spanish private airline company Swiftair confirmed it had no contact with its MD-83 aircraft operated by Air Algerie, which it said was carrying 110 passengers and six crew.

An Algieran official had earlier said it was an Airbus A320.

The company said in a notice posted on its website that the aircraft took off from Burkina Faso at 0117 local time and was supposed to land in Algiers at 0510 local time but never reached its destination

Updated

The missing Air Algerie flight crashed today (Thursday 24 July 2014) en route from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso to Algiers with 110 passengers on board, an Algerian aviation official said.

There were few clear indications of what might have happened to the aircraft, or whether there were casualties, but Burkino Faso Transport Minister Jean Bertin Ouedrago said it asked to change route at 0138 GMT because of a storm in the area.

“I can confirm that it has crashed,” the Algerian official told Reuters, declining to be identified or give any details about what had happened to the aircraft on its way north.

Swiftair, the private Spanish company that owns the plane, confirmed it had lost contact with the MD-83 operated by Air Algerie, which it said was carrying 110 passengers and six crew.

A diplomat in the Malian capital Bamako said that the north of the country – which lies on the plane’s likely flight path – was struck by a powerful sandstorm overnight.

READ full story on Reuters Website

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