Algerian plane missing as it was en route to Algeria from Burkina Faso. Based on the statements provided by the Transport Minister of France, Jean Bertin Ouedrago, majority of the 116 passengers and crew aboard of that particular Air Algerie flight were French. It was flying from Ouagadougou and was heading for Algiers and had asked to change its route at 1:38 GMT because there was a storm in the area.
Frederic Cuvillier, French Minister, said, "There were likely French people on board, and if there were French people on board, there were certainly many of them." The representative of the airline stated that the Algerian plane missing flight's passenger list showed that there were 50 French citizens on board.
APS stated that contact with Air Algerie AH 5017 was lost one hour after it took off from the Burkina Faso airport. However, other officials gave other timeframes on when the contact was lost, which further added to the confusion about the fate of the Algerian plane missing and its passengers, and on where it could be.
Swiftair, Spanish private airline company, confirmed that it had absolutely no contact with its MD-83 Algerian plane missing that was operated by Air Algerie. They posted in a notice on their website that the plane took off from Burkina Faso at 1:17 GMT and was actually scheduled to land in Algiers at 5:10 GMT. However, the plane was not able to reach its destination.
An Algerian aviation official mentioned that the last time they were able to contact the Algerian plane missing was at 1:55 GMT, which was around the time that it flew over Gao, Mali.
The Head of the National Civil Aviation Agency of Mali, Issa Saly Maiga, stated that a search was already underway for the Algerian plane missing. He informed Reuters, "We do not know if the plane is in Malian territory. Aviation authorities are mobilized in all the countries concerned - Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Algeria, and even Spain."
At present, peace has still not been obtained in the northern part of Mali, but a senior French official has stated that it was highly unlikely that the rebels in Mali had any weaponry that was capable of shooting down the Algerian plane missing, unlike the rebel fighters in Ukraine. The official said, on the condition of anonymity, that the fighters may have shoulder-fired weapons, but these could not hit an aircraft that was on a cruising altitude.
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