Wreckage of Air Algerie Plane Found in Mali, All Onboard Dead
The wreckage of the Air Algerie plane carrying 116 passengers and crew members, which had disappeared early on Thursday, has been found in Mali near the border with Burkina Faso. There were no survivors.
The flight was going from Burkina Faso to Algeria and as many as 51 passengers onboard were French citizens. The Elysée Palace in Paris, in a statement, revealed that the aircraft had been "clearly identified in a state of disintegration," the Financial Times reports.
French troops based in the region have been notified; they are on their way to secure the site, which is about 50km (30 miles) from the border, the French President's office said, BBC reports. "A French military unit has been sent to (the area) to secure the site and gather evidence," France's President's office said. French President Francois Hollande expressed solidarity with the friends and families of the victims of the crash.
General Gilbert Diendere, who is a member of the crisis unit in Burkina Faso, said that his team had already inspected the wreckage near the village of Boulikessi.
"This team has confirmed that it has seen the remains of the plane, totally burned out and scattered on the ground," Diendere told the local television, adding the remains of dead bodies had also been discovered.
"Sadly, the team saw no one on site. It saw no survivors."
According to Reuters, two French Mirage fighter jets and United Nations helicopters Thursday had hunted for the wreck of the McDonnell Douglas MD-83 plane for hours in the remote northern part of Mali, a province which is feared to have been a prey to Islamist militants and Tuareg separatist fighters.
The Malian state television disclosed that the wreckage of the Algerie plane was discovered between the town of Gossi and the Burkina Faso border.
Around 50 minutes after it took off Thursday, the flight AH5017 could not be contacted by regional aviation officials after the pilot requested a change of course due to bad weather.
