{"id":34466,"date":"2014-07-25T08:03:26","date_gmt":"2014-07-25T08:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=34466"},"modified":"2014-07-25T08:03:26","modified_gmt":"2014-07-25T08:03:26","slug":"algeria-passenger-plane-wreckage-found-in-mali","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/07\/algeria-passenger-plane-wreckage-found-in-mali\/","title":{"rendered":"Algeria passenger plane wreckage found in Mali"},"content":{"rendered":"
The wreckage of a plane that disappeared with 116 people on board on a flight from Burkina Faso to Algiers has been found in Mali, officials say.<\/p>\n
French troops based in the region are on their way to secure the site, about 50km (30 miles) from the border with Burkina Faso, French officials said.<\/p>\n
Air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane early on Thursday after pilots reported severe storms.<\/p>\n
The passengers on the Air Algerie flight included 51 French citizens.<\/p>\n
The McDonnell Douglas MD-83 – Flight AH 5017 – had been chartered from Spanish airline Swiftair.<\/p>\n
French President Francois Hollande expressed solidarity with the friends and families of those on board.<\/p>\n
“A French military unit has been sent to (the area) to secure the site and gather evidence,” his office said\u00a0in a statement<\/a>\u00a0(in French).<\/p>\n The statement went on to say that the plane had “disintegrated”, without giving further details.<\/p>\n France’s Interior Minister said it appeared likely the plane had crashed due to bad weather.<\/p>\n ‘Burnt and scattered’<\/b><\/p>\n The crash site was identified on Thursday by the Burkina Faso army near the village of Boulikessi, officials said.<\/p>\n Gilbert Diendere, a Burkina Faso army general, said Mali had agreed to their cross-border search which was launched after a resident in Gossi described seeing a plane go down to the south-west of the town.<\/p>\n “Sadly, the team saw no-one on site. It saw no survivors,” he told reporters.<\/p>\n “They found human remains and the wreckage of the plane totally burnt and scattered,” he added.<\/p>\n Malian state radio said shepherds had been the first to spot the wreckage and had informed the authorities, the BBC’s Alex Duval Smith reports from the Malian capital, Bamako.<\/p>\n ‘Sandstorm’<\/b><\/p>\n