Air Algerie AH5017 with 116 onboard goes missing for hours, found crashed in Mali
Source: rt.com
An Air Algerie flight carrying 110 passengers and six crew members has reportedly crashed in Mali after having disappeared from radar early on Thursday morning between Burkina Faso and Algeria.A French Ministry of Defense official told Fox News that the two French fighter jets located the wreckage of the plane, which had crashed in Mali. An airport official additionally confirmed to NBC News that the wreckage had been located.
“The plane would have crashed in the region of Tilemsi, 70km from Gao,” Air Algerie tweeted.
However, moments beforehand, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced at a press conference that the plane was still missing.
Fidel Castro’s nice, Mariela Castro, a prominent gay rights activist, was initially thought to be on board the flight after the Facebook page of Burkina Faso’s main airport - Ouagadougou - stated: “Among the passengers on flight AH5017 will have been two European officials of French nationality stationed in Ouagadougou and Mariela Castro, niece of Fidel Castro, former Cuban head of state.”
However, Mariela Castro later told Venezuelan channel TeleSUR by telephone that she was ’alive’ denying all reports that she had been a passenger. "I’m alive and kicking, happy and healthy," she said.
Initial reports of the crash were confirmed by Algerian aviation authorities. "I can confirm that it has crashed," an anonymous official later told Reuters. Early reports from the CCTV network and Algerian TV suggested that it went down in Niger rather than Mali.
A spokeswoman for Spanish private airline company, Swiftair, confirmed that it had lost contact with one of its planes operated by Air Algerie on Thursday. The plane was an Air Algerie MD-83, flight AH5017.
"Air navigation services have lost contact with an Air Algerie plane Thursday flying from Ouagadougou to Algiers, 50 minutes after take-off,"the airline said.
Swiftair said that there had been “no contact” with the missing aircraft since.
French Transport Minister, Frederic Cuvillier, told reporters that it was “likely many” French passengers were on board the flight.
"There are 110 passengers and 6 crew traveling on the plane, of which four are pilots and two cabin crew," the Swiftair statement confirmed.
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This, unbelievably, comes after yesterday’s crash in Taiwan, and the recent events with two Malaysia Airlines flights (MH370 and MH17): Plane crashes while landing in Taiwan, killing 48
