UPDATE: The missing Air Algerie flight crashed in Mali, CBS confirmed.
An Algerian official confirmed the sad news to the outlet, but did not release the cause of the crash. However, the FAA has warned airlines to be extra careful when flying over Mali, NASDAQ reports. The FAA has banned U.S. carriers from flying over Mali at lower altitudes.
Thunderstorms were also present in the flight path to Algiers on July 24, CNN reports.
Air Algerie Flight 5017, with 116 people on board, went missing from radar after heavy rains were reported on July 24, an airline’s operator revealed, according to CNN.
Air Algerie Flight 5017 lost contact with radar 50 minutes after takeoff from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, the agency said, according the USA Today. The plane was supposed to land at Algiers’ Houari Boumediene Airport about four hours later.
The plane was carrying 110 passengers, along with two pilots and four crew members. The plane is operated by Air Algerie, but belongs to the private Spanish company, Swiftair.
50 French passengers are reported to be on board.
French news agency AFP reveals from an unidentified source that the plane was “not far from the Algerian frontier 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 Air Algerie plane flies from Ouagadougou to Algiers route four times a week, the AFP reported. Ougadougou is almost directly south of Algiers and it passes over Mali where unrest is currently present. However, a senior French official said that fighters in Mali probably did not have weaponry that could shoot down a plane, the Associated Press reports.
Our condolences go out to the family and friends of those on board the Air Algerie plane.
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