Wreckage of missing Algerian plane found in Mali

The wreckage of an Air Algerie plane missing since early Thursday with 116 people on board has been found in Mali near the Burkina Faso border, an army coordinator in Burkina Faso and the French presidency said. ‘We have found the Algerian plane. The wreck has been located ... 50 kilometres (30 miles) 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,’ he said. The French president’s office said on Friday the jet was clearly identified even though it had ‘disintegrated’. A ‘French military unit has been sent to (the area) to secure the site and gather evidence’, it added in a statement. Flight AH5017, which took off from Ouagadougou bound for Algiers with 51 French nationals aboard according to French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, went missing amid reports of heavy storms, company sources and officials said. The airline said there were also 24 Burkinabe, eight Lebanese, six Algerians, six Spanish, five Canadians, four Germans and two Luxembourg nationals on board, according to AFP.