Algerian plane carrying 116 people got missing

Algerian authorities said they have lost contact with one of their planes that flew from Burkina Faso.

According reports by the officials,flight AH5017 had 110 passengers and six crew on board.

The country’s national airline, Air Algerie’s flight was from Ouagadougou to Algiers.

The aircraft is said to have taken off at 0117 GMT and was due to land in the Algerian capital of Algiers at 0510 GMT.

Contact with the plane was lost about an hour after take-off presumably as it travelled across Gao in Mali.

Reuters news agency quoted a diplomat in the Malian capital Bamako as saying that the north of the country – which lies on the plane’s likely flight path – was struck by a powerful sandstorm overnight. According to the BBC, United Nations troops in Mali say they understand the plane came down between Gao and Tessalit.

The area is vast and sparsely populated.

The disappearance of the Air Algerie plane today comes a week to the day after the Malaysia Airlines crash.

Search is underway.