Air Algerie Flight Crashes, 116 on Board

Updated 7:50 p.m. EDT

Algerian authorities lost contact with Air Algerie Flight 5017 Wednesday at 9:55 p.m. EDT, 50 minutes after the MD-83 departed from Ouagadougou Airport (OUA) in Burkina Faso. The plane was en route to Houari Boumediene Airport (ALG) in Algiers. There were 110 passengers and six crew.

Authorities in Burkina handed over control to the tower in Niamey, Niger at 9:38 p.m. EDT. AH 5017’s last message came into the control tower around 11:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday. Burkino Faso Transport Minister Jean Bertin Ouedrago said the flight requested to change route at 9:38 p.m. EDT due to a storm in the Sahara. A source within the Niamey control tower, however, according to Reuters, said they had not been contacted by AH 5017.

An Algerian aviation official confirmed to Reuters Thursday morning that the plane crashed, but declined to elaborate on how, where or when.

The wreckage was found late Thursday, 60 miles from Gao, Mali, according to Gen. Gilbert Diendéré, who is coordinating the crisis response for Burkina Faso. He said there were no survivors.

Kara Terki, an Air Algerie representative, said at a news conference that all the passengers on AH 5017 had final destinations beyond Algeria, all bound for Europe, the Middle East or Canada. She included a passenger list comprised of 50 French citizens, 24 people from Burkina Faso, eight Lebanese, four Algerians, two people from Luxembourg, and one passenger each from Belgium, Switzerland, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ukraine and Romania.

Officials in Lebanon claim at least 10 Lebanese citizens were on the flight.

According to the Spanish pilots’ union, all six crew members were Spanish.

The French military has sent two Mirage 2000 fighter jets based in West Africa out in search of the plane. French army spokesman Giles Jaron was unable to confirm that the plane was found.

Crisis centers have been set up at airports in Paris and Marseille.

Earlier, French President Francois Hollande said all military means on the ground would be used to locate AH 5017. “The search will take as long as needed,” he told reporters. “Everything must be done to find this plane.”

The FAA previously issued a Mali NOTAM. A segment of it reads:

“U.S. operators and airmen should avoid operating into, out of, within or over Mali at or below FL240 due to insurgent activity. There is risk to the safety of U.S. civil flights operating into, out of, within or over Mali from small-arms, rocketpropelled grenades, rockets and mortars, and anti-aircraft fire, to include shoulder-fired, man-portable air defense systems.”

The FAA has also issued an IFIM Notice and Travel Warning for Mali.

A senior French official, not authorized to speak publicly, said it is unlikely the fighters in Mali had weaponry capable of shooting down a plane. He added that they primarily have shoulder-fired weapons that are not powerful enough to hit a passenger plane traveling at cruising altitude.

Mali has been the site of escalating tensions since falling under the control of Tuareg separatist and then al-Qaida-linked Islamic extremist following a military coup in 2012. The French scattered the extremists last year, but the Tuaregs have pushed back against the Bamako-based government.