Air Algerie crash - 116 killed
By Geoffrey Thomas Wed Jul 23, 2014
An Air Algerie flight AH5017 with 110 passengers and 6 crew has crashed and their are no survivors.
According to AP French President Francois Hollande says there are no survivors in the crash in Mali.
Hollande announced on Friday July 25th that one black box has been found in the debris after French troops reached the site in the Gossi region near the border with Burkina Faso.
According to AFP the Air Algerie aircraft was seen "falling" in the region of Gossi, in northern Mali.
"A witness informed us they had seen the plane falling at 0150 (GMT and local time Thursday)," said General Gilbert Diendiere, coordinator of the crisis told AFP.
Reports aslo suggest that the flight may have been hit by lightning.
The flight was operating between Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, to Algiers.
The aircraft, a twin-engine MD-83, chartered from Spanish Airline Swiftair, was 50 minutes into its flight when Algerian aviation authorities lost contact.
The aircraft departed at 0117 local time and was scheduled to arrive at 0510 local time.
According to Aviation Herald the Swiftair McDonnell Douglas MD-83 was operating on behalf of Air Algerie.
Swiftair and Air Algerie confirmed they lost contact with the aircraft at about 03:00 local time. Swiftair has set up a call center for family members of passengers: Phone number +34 900 264 270.
Weather was likely a factor. Aviation Herald adds that weather researcher Simon Proud at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) reported that the tops of the thunderstorm clouds in the area were above FL400 in that region around Gao, peaking up to FL500.
According to CNN Air Algerie sales manager Zoheir Houaoui told reporters Thursday that among the passengers, there were 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.
The plane's six crew members were Spanish.
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