On the way from Burkina Faso to Algeria a passenger plane has crashed. According to UN data, the accident occurred about Mali. On board the machine by Air Algérie were 116 people.

The jet carrying 110 passengers and six crew was travelling from Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou to the Algerian capital Algiers when it vanished around 50 minutes into the flight.

“In keeping with procedures, Air Algerie has launched its emergency plan,” Algeria’s APS state news agency quoted the airline as saying.

The French Transport Minister said it is “likely” there were “many” French passengers on board.

Flight AH5017 is owned by Spanish private airline Swiftair and operated by Air Algerie.

Swiftair said the aircraft took off from Burkina Faso at 1.17am local time and was supposed to land in Algiers at 5.10am local time but never reached its destination.

The McDonnell Douglas MD-83 had been missing for hours before news of its disappearance was made public.

Its flight path was not immediately clear.

Ouagadougou is in a nearly straight line south of Algiers, separated by Mali where unrest continues in the north of the country.

Airlines had been warned not to fly over Mali in recent days, Sky News understands.

However, a senior French official said it is unlikely that fighters in Mali could shoot down a plane.

They are known to have shoulder-fired weapons which could not hit an aircraft travelling at a cruising altitude of some 33,000ft.

If the plane had flown over Mali, it would have been near Gao international airport when it dropped off radar.

Sky’s Alistair Bunkall said there are reports in the Algerian media that the plane crashed after running out of fuel.

But given the plane was 50 minutes – or about 300 miles – into its journey that is unlikely to be a cause, he said.

Swiftair has a fleet of more than 30 planes flying in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

On board were 110 passengers and six crew members. “There were Frenchmen on board, and certainly many of them,” said France’s Transport Minister Frederic Cuvillier. Air Algérie confirmed the French news channel BFMTV, 50 Frenchmen were on board. According to the Spanish pilots’ union Sepla are the six crew members Spaniards.

The French Air Force, meanwhile, took up the search for the machine. Two fighter jets from the Mirage-2000 from a base in N’Djamena, the capital of Chad, launched a search mission, as a spokesman for the French general staff said. The search area EXTEND from the point of the last location in the direction of “probable” route.

The last contact with the machine, there was apparently over the city Gao in Mali. Flight AH5017 was offered with a loud flightradar24.com leased by the Spanish airline Swiftair machine of the type McDonnell Douglas MD-83. It was the only connection between the cities on Thursday. The MD-83 is a twin-engine jet and was made up in the nineties years of McDonnell Douglas. The company went public in 1997 with Boeing together.

According to “Aviation Herald” there is no message of an airport, the the machine with the fuel on board could have achieved. The Ouagadougou airport posted on Facebook a card with the possible crash area.
The flight-company had claims to lost contact with the machine in the skies over Africa. The connection with the air traffic control was demolished about 50 minutes after the start in the Burkinabe capital, Ouagadougou. The aircraft was on his way to Algiers. It should contain the website flightradar24.com According clock start at 0:45 and end at 4.40 clock. According to Essien the weather was bad in the alleged crash-region overnight.

“The plane was not far from the Algerian border, as the crew was invited because of poor visibility to change course to another aircraft to avoid a collision on the track Algiers Bamako,” said an employee of Air Algérie, the name declined to be named. After the change of course the machine was gone.
Swiftair had also confirmed that they had lost contact with a machine that will be used by Air Algérie. According Swiftair the machine took off at 1.17 clock and should land At 5.10 clock. The aircraft was never in Algiers. It has been missing since hours before the disappearance was made public.

According to the website of the airline Air Algérie offers four compounds per week on the route. In recent weeks, it had been served with a flight radar, according to Boeing 737 or an Airbus A320.

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