“We have found the Algerian plane. The wreck has been located 50km north of the Burkina Faso border,” in the Malian region of Gossi, said General Gilbert Diendiere of the Burkina Faso army. “At the moment we have no further information on (the fate of) the passengers, but our teams are hard at work.”
Diendiere gave no indication as to what may have caused the plane to crash.
It has been reported that a witness had earlier reported seeing the plane ‘falling’ in the Gossi region.
Flight AH5017 took off from Ouagadougou bound for Algiers with 51 French nationals, 24 Burkinabe, eight Lebanese, six Algerians, six Spanish, five Canadians, four Germans and two Luxembourg nationals on board, according to the airline. It went missing amid reports of heavy storms, company sources and officials said.
