Algeria :Algerian aviation authorities have lost contact with an Air Algerie aircraft en route from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso to Algiers with 110 passengers on board, the APS state news agency reported on Thursday.
APS said air navigation services lost track of the plane 50 minutes after takeoff early on Thursday, last sited at 0155 GMT. That means that Flight AH5017 had been missing for hours before the news was made public.
“In keeping with procedures, Air Algerie has launched its emergency plan,” the agency quoted the airline as saying.
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.
Ougadougou is in a nearly straight line south of Algiers, passing over Mali where unrest continues in the north.
However, a senior French official said it was unlikely that fighters in Mali had weaponry that could shoot down a plane. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak for attribution, said the fights have shoulder-fired weapons which could not hit an aircraft at cruising altitude.
