Algerian Plane with 116 people on board goes missing after take off from Burkina Faso

 

Authorities have lost contact with an Air Algerie flight en route from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso to Algiers with 116 passengers on board, Algeria’s APS state news agency and a Spanish airline company said on Thursday.



APS said authorities lost contact with flight AH 5017 an hour after it took off from Burkina Faso.

Spanish private airline company Swiftair confirmed it had no contact with its MD-83 aircraft operated by Air Algerie, which it said was carrying 110 passengers and six crew. An Algieran official had earlier said it was an Airbus A320.

The company said in a notice posted on its website that the aircraft took off from Burkina Faso at 0117 local time and was supposed to land in Algiers at 0510 local time but never reached its destination . {mosimage}

APS gave no details on the the number of passengers aboard flight AH 5017.

Spanish private airline company Swiftair on Thursday said it had lost contact with one of its airplane operated by Air Algerie with 110 passengers and six crew members on board.

The company said in a notice posted on its website that the aircraft took off from Burkina Faso at 0117 local time and was supposed to land in Algiers at 0510 local time but never reached its destination.

This shocking news comes a day after a  TransAsia Airways turboprop plane crashed on its second attempt at landing during a thunderstorm on an island off Taiwan on Wednesday, killing 47 people and setting buildings on fire, officials said.

The plane, a 70-seat ATR 72, crashed near the runway on the island of Penghu, west of the mainland, with 54 passengers and four crew on board, they said. No one was killed or hurt in the buildings.