>Pilot changed route because of storm, officials say
File Photo of the missing MD-83
Spanish private airline company Swiftair has confirmed it had no contact with its MD-83 aircraft operated by Air Algerie, which it said was carrying 110 passengers and six crew.
There were likely many French passengers among the 110 on the Air Algerie flight which disappeared en route from Burkina Faso to Algeria, France’s transport said today.
Burkina Faso transport minister Jean Bertin Ouedrago said the Air Algerie flight that was en route from Ouagadougou to Algiers had asked to change route at 01.38 GMT because of a storm in the area.
Authorities have lost contact with the flight en route from Ouagadougou to Algiers with 110 passengers and six crew on board, Algeria’s APS state news agency and a Spanish airline company said today.
“There were likely French people on board, and if there were French people on board there were certainly many of them,” French minister Frederic Cuvillier told reporters. The airline’s representative said the passenger list of a missing flight included 50 French citizens.
APS said authorities lost contact with flight AH 5017 an hour after it took off from Burkina Faso, although other officials gave other timings, adding to confusion about the fate of the flight and where it might be.
Spanish private airline company Swiftair confirmed it had no contact with its MD-83 aircraft operated by Air Algerie, which it said was carrying 110 passengers and six crew.
The company said in a notice posted on its website that the aircraft took off from Burkina Faso at 01.17 GMT and was supposed to land in Algiers at 05.10 GMT but never reached its destination.
An Algerian aviation official said the last contact Algerian authorities had with a missing Air Algerie aircraft carrying 116 people from Burkina Faso to Algiers was at 01.55 GMT when it was flying over Gao, Mali.
Aviation authorities in Burkina say they handed the flight to the control tower in Niamey, Niger, at 1:38 am (01.38 GMT). They said last contact with the flight was just after 4:30 a.m. (03.30 GMT).
Burkinabe authorities have set up a crisis unit in Ouagadougou airport to provide information to families of people on the flight.
A diplomat in the Malian capital Bamako said that the north of the country - which lies on the plane‘s likely flight path - was struck by a powerful sandstorm overnight.
Issa Saly Maiga, head of Mali’s National Civil Aviation Agency, said that a search was under way for the missing flight.
“We do not know if the plane is Malian territory,“ he told Reuters. “Aviation authorities are mobilised in all the countries concerned - Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Algeria and even Spain.”
Unrest continues in north of Mali but senior French official said it was unlikely that fighters in Mali had weaponry that could shoot down a plane. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the fighters have shoulder-fired weapons which could not hit an aircraft at cruising altitude.
Whatever is the fate of the flight, the loss of contact is likely to add the to jitters in the airline industry after a Malaysia Airlines plane was downed over Ukraine last week, a TransAsia Airways crashed off Taiwan during a thunderstorm on Wednesday and airlines cancelled flights into Tel Aviv due to the conflict in Gaza.
There were likely many French passengers among the 110 on the Air Algerie flight which disappeared en route from Burkina Faso to Algeria, France’s transport said today.
Burkina Faso transport minister Jean Bertin Ouedrago said the Air Algerie flight that was en route from Ouagadougou to Algiers had asked to change route at 01.38 GMT because of a storm in the area.
Authorities have lost contact with the flight en route from Ouagadougou to Algiers with 110 passengers and six crew on board, Algeria’s APS state news agency and a Spanish airline company said today.
“There were likely French people on board, and if there were French people on board there were certainly many of them,” French minister Frederic Cuvillier told reporters. The airline’s representative said the passenger list of a missing flight included 50 French citizens.
APS said authorities lost contact with flight AH 5017 an hour after it took off from Burkina Faso, although other officials gave other timings, adding to confusion about the fate of the flight and where it might be.
Spanish private airline company Swiftair confirmed it had no contact with its MD-83 aircraft operated by Air Algerie, which it said was carrying 110 passengers and six crew.
The company said in a notice posted on its website that the aircraft took off from Burkina Faso at 01.17 GMT and was supposed to land in Algiers at 05.10 GMT but never reached its destination.
An Algerian aviation official said the last contact Algerian authorities had with a missing Air Algerie aircraft carrying 116 people from Burkina Faso to Algiers was at 01.55 GMT when it was flying over Gao, Mali.
Aviation authorities in Burkina say they handed the flight to the control tower in Niamey, Niger, at 1:38 am (01.38 GMT). They said last contact with the flight was just after 4:30 a.m. (03.30 GMT).
Burkinabe authorities have set up a crisis unit in Ouagadougou airport to provide information to families of people on the flight.
A diplomat in the Malian capital Bamako said that the north of the country - which lies on the plane‘s likely flight path - was struck by a powerful sandstorm overnight.
Issa Saly Maiga, head of Mali’s National Civil Aviation Agency, said that a search was under way for the missing flight.
“We do not know if the plane is Malian territory,“ he told Reuters. “Aviation authorities are mobilised in all the countries concerned - Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Algeria and even Spain.”
Unrest continues in north of Mali but senior French official said it was unlikely that fighters in Mali had weaponry that could shoot down a plane. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the fighters have shoulder-fired weapons which could not hit an aircraft at cruising altitude.
Whatever is the fate of the flight, the loss of contact is likely to add the to jitters in the airline industry after a Malaysia Airlines plane was downed over Ukraine last week, a TransAsia Airways crashed off Taiwan during a thunderstorm on Wednesday and airlines cancelled flights into Tel Aviv due to the conflict in Gaza.
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