Air Algerie Plane with 116 Passengers Crashed in Mali

nsnbc international
Jul 24, 2014

nsnbc : An Air Algerie passenger jet, carrying 110 passengers from Burkina Faso to Algiers crashed in Mali near the Algerian border. Air traffic controllers lost contact with Air Algerie Flight AH 5017 50 minutes after takeoff. The plane was rerouted due to weather conditions, reports the airline.

The Aglerian news agency APR reported that air traffic controllers lost contact with Air Algerie Flight AH 5017 at 01:55 GMT, some 50 minutes after takeoff from Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou.  Reports, according to which the plane should have had the niece of former Cuban President Fidel Castro on board have since been denied. It is too early to tell whether any of the passengers or crew have survived the crash as search and rescue operations are still underway by the time of writing this article.

Information thus far, indicated that weather conditions may have caused the crash. The pilot reportedly contacted the control tower in Niamey, Niger because of weather conditions.

An unidentified person with Air Algiers as saying that Flight AH 5017 was not far from the Algerian border when the crew was asked to make a detour because of poor visibility and to prevent the risk of collision with another aircraft on the Algiers – Bamako route.

The airline reports that it has launched its emergency response in accordance with the airlines procedures, reports the APS news agency.  French military, according to initial reports stationed in Mali, launched fighter planes to search for the MD-83 and discovered the crashed plane in Mali, not far from the border to Algeria. nsnbc will follow-up on the report when more, verifiable information is available to us.

CH/L – nsnbc 24.07.2014