An Air Algerie MD-83 that went missing early Thursday while en route from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, to Algiers has crashed in a remote region of Mali, Algerian authorities say.
Details were slow to emerge after officials lost contact with the airplane, which was carrying 110 passengers and six crewmembers, approximately 50 minutes into the flight. The crew was last heard from when they asked to deviate from their planned routing because of heavy rain.
While apparently operated by Air Algerie, the MD-83 was owned by a private Spanish airline known as Swiftair and was manned by six Spanish crewmembers. The passengers on board included 51 French, 27 Burkinabe, eight Lebanese, six Algerians, five Canadians, four Germans, two Luxembourgers, one Swiss, one Nigerian, one Ukrainian, one Egyptian, one Belgium, and one Malian, officials say.
The wreckage was reportedly located in a desert area of southeastern Mali outside of the city of Gao by French fighters, which were launched in response to reports of the missing airliner with many French citizens aboard. In addition to its remote location, the area in which the wreckage was spotted poses security concerns that officials say would preclude emergency personnel from reaching the site today.
The crash is the latest in a string of tragedies that have rocked the industry in recent months, and comes on the heels of the death of 298 people who were killed when a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was shot down over Ukraine. The accident also comes just a day after nearly 50 people were killed when ATR 72 crashed in Taiwan.
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