OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso, July 24 (UPI) -- Air Algerie Flight 5017 has crashed in Mali, the airline announced Thursday, and all 123 people aboard are believed to have perished.
The Boeing MD-83 crashed in Tilemsi, approximately 70 kilometers from the Malian city of Gao.
The plane disappeared over Mali airspace 50 minutes into a four-hour flight from Burkina Faso to Algeria.
French Secretary of Transport Frederic Cuvillier noted that the plane was flying over an area where Islamist militants are battling Malian government and French forces.
The cause of the crash is not yet known, but weather may have played a factor.
Contact was lost when the flight was directed to change course because of zero visibility and thunderstorms, the airline noted.
Air Algerie updated the number aboard in a Twitter post, raising the previously reported number from 116 total on the flight to 117 passengers and six crew members.
Algeria's state news agency reported the passenger list included 50 French, 24 Burkinabe, eight Lebanese, six Algerians, five Canadians, and four Germans. All crew members were Spanish.
Read More
- Air Algerie plane missing en route from Burkina Faso to Algeria
- Australia sends 50 police to MH17 crash site
- Father and son flying around world crash, son dies, father missing
- U.S. analysts: Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 possibly shot down by 'mistake'
- Minnesota man with kids allegedly tossed from Southwest Airlines flight for critical tweets
- Two Ukrainian fighter planes shot down
- Passenger plane crashes in Taiwan; at least 45 dead
