A search is underway for the wreckage of an Air Algerie plane carrying 100 passengers and six crew after it disappeared from radar between Burkina Faso and Algiers.
The official Algerian news agency said air navigation services lost track of the Swiftair plane 50 minutes after take-off in the early hours of Thursday.
The flight path of Flight AH5017 from Ouagadougou, the capital of the west African nation of Burkina Faso, to Algiers was not immediately clear.
Ouagadougou is almost directly south of Algiers, passing over Mali where unrest continues in the north.
A senior French official said it was unlikely that fighters in Mali had weaponry that could shoot down a plane.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the fighters have shoulder-fired weapons which could not hit an aircraft at cruising altitude.
Those on board included 51 French passengers, 27 Burkina Faso nationals, 8 Lebanese, six Algerians, 5 Canadians, 4 Germans, 2 from Luxembourg, 1 Swiss, 1 Belgium, 1 Egyptian, 1 Ukrainian, 1 Nigerian, 1 Cameroonian and 1 Malian.
But there are conflicting reports that around 20 passengers were Lebanese, and the 6 crew members have previously been said to be Spanish.
This is the area of Mali where the plane is believed to have crashed, near the town of Kidal.
It is 285 km northeast of Gao, where Algerian authorities last had contact with the passenger jet.
No comments:
Post a Comment