Air Algerie flight ‘probably crashed’, but no wreckage found

ALGIERS — An Air Algerie flight carrying at least 110 people from Burkina Faso to Algeria’s capital disappeared from radar yesterday over northern Mali, officials said. France’s Foreign Minister said no wreckage had been found, but that the plane “probably crashed”.

An Algerian official told Reuters it had crashed. “I can confirm that it has crashed,” he said, but declined to be identified or to give any details about what had happened to the aircraft.

Air navigation services lost track of the MD-83 about 50 minutes after takeoff from Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, in the early morning hours, Algerian news agency APS said.

“Despite an intensive search, at the moment I speak, no trace of the aircraft has been found,” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters in Paris. “The plane has probably crashed.”

Two French fighter jets were among the aircraft scouring the rugged north of Mali for the plane.

The flight was operated by Spanish airline Swiftair, which said it had not been able to contact the plane. It said the plane was carrying 110 passengers and six crew, and had not arrived at the scheduled time.

More than 50 French citizens were on board the plane, along with 27 Burkina Faso nationals and passengers from a dozen other countries. The flight crew was Spanish.

The last message from the plane asked Niger air control to change its route because of heavy rains in the area, Burkina Faso Transport Minister Jean Bertin Ouedraogo said.

French Transport Minister Frederic Cuvillier said the Air Algerie flight had vanished over northern Mali.

Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal said on Algerian state television that 10 minutes before disappearing, the plane was in contact with air traffic controllers in Gao, a city essentially under the control of the Malian government, though it has seen lingering separatist violence.

A senior French official, however, said it was unlikely that fighters in Mali had the kind of weaponry that could shoot down a plane. Agencies