Missing Air Algerie plane from Burkina

Faso has crashed: Algerian official

BY HAMID OULD AHMED-ALGIERS Thu Jul 24, 2014
(Reuters) - An Air Algerie flight crashed on Thursday en route from Ouagadougou in
Burkina Faso to Algiers ith !!" passengers on #oard$ an Algerian a%iation official
said&
There ere fe clear indications of hat might ha%e happened to the aircraft$ or
hether there ere casualties$ #ut Burkina Faso Transport Minister 'ean Bertin
Ouedrago said it asked to change route at "!() *MT #ecause of a storm in the area&
+, can confirm that it has crashed$+ the Algerian official told Reuters$ declining to #e
identified or gi%e any details a#out hat had happened to the aircraft on its ay north&
Almost half of the passengers ere French citi-ens$ an airline official said&
To French fighter .ets #ased in the region ha%e #een dispatched to try to locate the
airliner along its pro#a#le route$ a French army spokesman said& /iger security
sources said planes ere flying o%er the #order region ith Mali to search for the
flight& Algeria0s state nes agency A12 said authorities lost contact ith flight A3 4"!5
an hour after it took off from Burkina Faso$ #ut other officials ga%e differing accounts
of the times of contact$ adding to confusion a#out the plane0s fate&
2iftair$ the pri%ate 2panish company that ons the plane$ confirmed it had lost
contact ith the M6-)( operated #y Air Algerie$ hich it said as carrying !!"
passengers and si7 cre&
A diplomat in the Malian capital Bamako said that the north of the country - hich lies
on the plane0s likely flight path - as struck #y a poerful sandstorm o%ernight&
8hate%er the cause$ another plane crash is likely to add to ner%es in the industry after
a Malaysia Airlines plane as doned o%er 9kraine last eek$ a TransAsia Airays
crashed off Taian during a thunderstorm on 8ednesday and airlines canceled flights
into Tel A%i% due to the conflict in *a-a&
An Air Algerie representati%e in Burkina Faso$ :ara Terki$ told a nes conference that
all the passengers on the plane ere in transit$ either for ;urope$ the Middle ;ast or
<anada&
3e said the passenger list included 4" French$ => Burkina#e$ eight ?e#anese$ four
Algerians$ to from ?u7em#ourg$ one Belgian$ one 2iss$ one /igerian$ one
<ameroonian$ one 9krainian and one Romanian& ?e#anese officials said there ere at
least !" ?e#anese citi-ens on the flight&
A spokesoman for 2;1?A$ 2pain@s pilots union$ said the si7 cre ere from 2pain&
2he could not gi%e any further details&
R;*,O/A? 2;AR<3
2iftair said on its e#site the aircraft took off from Burkina Faso at "!!5 *MT and
as supposed to land in Algiers at "4!" *MT #ut ne%er reached its destination&
An Algerian a%iation official said the last contact Algerian authorities had ith the
missing Air Algerie aircraft as at "!44 *MT hen it as flying o%er *ao$ Mali&
A%iation authorities in Burkina say they handed the flight to the control toer in
/iamey$ /iger$ at !:() a&m& ("!() *MT)& They said the last contact ith the flight as
.ust after >:(" a&m& ("((" *MT)&
Burkina Faso minister Ouedrago said the flight asked the control toer in /iamey to
change route at "!() *MT #ecause of a storm in the 2ahara&
3oe%er$ a source in the control toer in /iamey$ ho declined to #e identified$ said it
had not #een contacted #y the plane$ hich in theory should ha%e flon o%er Mali&
Burkina#e authorities ha%e set up a crisis unit in Ouagadougou airport to pro%ide
information to families&
,ssa 2aly Maiga$ head of Mali0s /ational <i%il A%iation Agency$ said that a search as
under ay for the missing flight&
+8e do not kno if the plane is Malian territory$+ he told Reuters& +A%iation
authorities are mo#ili-ed in all the countries concerned - Burkina Faso$ Mali$ /iger$
Algeria and e%en 2pain&+
A%iation e#sites said the missing aircraft$ one of four M6-)(s oned #y 2iftair$ as
!)-years-old& The aircraft0s to engines are made #y 1ratt A 8hitney$ a unit of 9nited
Technologies&
9&2& planemaker Mc6onnell 6ouglas$ no part of Boeing$ stopped producing the M6-
)" airliner family in !BBB #ut it remains in idespread use& According to British
consultancy Flightglo#al Ascend$ there are >)= M6-)" aircraft in operation$ many of
them in the 9nited 2tates&
+Boeing is aare of the report (on the missing aircraft)& 8e are aaiting additional
information$+ a spokesman for the planemaker said&
2iftair has a relati%ely clean safety record$ ith fi%e accidents since !B55$ to of hich
caused a total of eight deaths$ according to the 8ashington-#ased Flight 2afety
Foundation&
Air Algerie0s last ma.or accident as in =""( hen one of its planes crashed shortly
after take-off from the southern city of Tamanrasset$ killing !"= people& ,n Fe#ruary
this year$ 55 people died hen an Algerian military transport plane crashed into a
mountain in eastern Algeria&
(This story as refiled to fi7 grammar in paragraph =)
(Additional reporting #y 1atrick Markey$ 6aniel Flynn$ 6a%id ?eis$ Mathieu
Bonkoungou$'ulien Toyer$ Tracy Rucinski$ ?aila Bassam$ Marine 1ennetier and Tim
3epherC 8riting #y 1atrick MarkeyC ;diting #y Alison 8illiams)
1osted #y Tha%am