An Air Algeria plane with around 116 people on board, including French and Spanish nationals, went missing Thursday during a flight from Burkina Faso to Algiers, company sources and officials said.
An Algerian aviation official told Reuters "I can confirm that it has crashed."
Air navigation services lost track of the Swiftair MD-83 about 50 minutes after takeoff from Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.
That means that flight AH5017 had been missing for hours before the news was made public.
(SOUNDBITE) (French) OF ZOHEIR HOUAOUI AIR ALGERIE SALES MANAGER SAYING:
"We confirm that there were 116 people on board, 110 passengers and 6 member crew. The company that operated this flight is swiftair that was chartered by air Algeria."
He said 50 of the passengers were French.
The French Foreign Minister said the flight disappeared over Mali.
Despite international military intervention still underway, the situation remains unstable in nor
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