Air Algerie Plane Disappears an Hour after Takeoff

Air Algerie’s Flight AH 5017, which took off from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso en route to Algeria’s Houari Boumedene Airport has disappeared. The flight that had 116 people on board comprising 110 passengers and 6 crew members is believed to have crashed in Tilmesi, Mali.
According to an Air Algerie representative the plane had on its passenger manifest a Cameroonian, a Nigerian, 4 Algerians, 24 Burkinabes, 50 French citizens, 8 Lebanese, a Swiss, 2 Luxembourgians, a Belgian, a Ukrainian and a Romanian. These passengers were all believed to have been on this flight as a transit to their final intended destinations in Europe, Middle East and Canada.
When reports of the plane’s disappearance was first reported in the press, there were fears that it was an act of terrorism perpetuated by radical Islamic rebels in the Saharan region. However, as information about the missing Flight AH 5017 continue to emerge, there are strong indications that the plane crashed as a result of turbulent weather conditions.
Some media outlets have given indication that the plane flew into a sandstorm and might have crashed as it alternated its flight path.
Reuters reports that two French fighter jets based in that region have been dispatched in an attempt to locate the airliner. The French have a military presence in the Sahara to help combat militants threatening the stability of the region.
The plane’s reported disappearance has increased the level of anxiety in the commercial aviation world, which is still reeling under the effects of two major disasters in the last two weeks: The downing of the Malaysia Airlines MH 17 and TransAsia Airways Flight GE 222
Source:Reuters