In another disaster involving a plane, an Air Algerie Flight AH5017, which had been missing since Thursday, was found in Mali just a few kilometers away from the Burkina Faso border. The plane carrying 116 people crashed after it encountered bad weather. The plane originated from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso and was bound for the capital of Algeria.
The authorities lost contact with the plane over the Sahara desert when it was hit by heavy storms. The plane, which was carrying 51 French nationals, was presumed to have been crashed even before the wreckage was found. French president Francois Hollande had earlier announced that the plane is likely to have crashed. The crew of the plane, who were mostly Spanish, signaled that they were altering their course when they came across bad weather conditions. The contact point of the plane, which was a McDonnell Douglas 83, was lost soon after the crew signaled the change in course. The flight was owned and operated by a Spanish airline Swiftair.
These last few months have seen a lot of air disasters, which goes to show that even after a number of safety measures being taken, crashes continue to take place. Questions are also being raised on why the news of the crash was not made public even after it went missing for hours.
Tensions between Mali and France is at an all tome high since a military intervention in Mali led by France to overthrow the extremist rule in the country. However, it is quite unlikely that the plane was shot down.
There were people from eight different countries on board including Burkina Faso, Germany, Lebanon, Canada, and Luxembourg. Forces from France, Mali, Algeria, and Niger were involved in the search operations. There were no survivors. This latest crash comes just six months after Algeria’s worst ever air disaster involving a C-130 military aircraft that crashed in a mountainous region killing all the 78 people on board.