Air Algerie plane, with 116 on board, falls off radar
By Claudia Rebaza, CNN updated 6:52 AM EDT, Thu July 24, 2014
London (CNN) -- An Air Algerie flight, with 116 people on board, has dropped off radar, prompting a search for the missing plane, the airline's operator said Thursday.
Flight 5017 lost radar contact 50 minutes after takeoff from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, early Thursday. It was supposed to have arrived at Algiers' Houari Boumediene Airport about four hours later.
The plane, an MD-83, is carrying 110 passengers, two pilots and four crew members. The MD-83 is part of the McDonnell Douglas MD-80 family of twin-engine, single-aisle jets.
A private Spanish company, Swiftair, operates the plane for Air Algerie.
"We have lost contact with the plane," Swiftair said.
"At this moment, emergency services and our staff are working on finding out more on this situation."
Post by Velar Fricative on Jul 24, 2014 6:09:57 GMT -5
Just coming to post. I am trying to make myself feel better by assuming this is getting more intense media coverage given recent events and that planes do disappear from radar but end up fine...right??
Post by cattledogkisses on Jul 24, 2014 7:12:44 GMT -5
I read that there was a major sandstorm in that region, so I'm thinking that has something to do with it. I doubt it's something sinister. Still, what a bad week for air transportation.
An Air Algerie flight that went missing en route from Burkina Faso to Algiers has crashed, an Algerian aviation official told Reuters on Thursday.
"I can confirm that it has crashed," the official said, declining to give details of where the plane was or what caused the accident.
The flight carrying 116 people from Burkina Faso to Algeria's capital disappeared from radar early Thursday over northern Mali after heavy rains were reported, according to the plane's owner and government officials in France and Burkina Faso. Nearly half of the passengers were French.
Maybe I'll start traveling by ocean liner and train.
But there's like a .01% chance that your conductor will be texting while driving the train or your captain will run ashore while trying to holla at someone on the beach! There is so safe place!