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 arrive 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.
The plane belongs to a
private Spanish company, Swiftair, but it appears to have been operated by 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."
Air Algerie said via
Twitter, "Unfortunately, for the moment we have no more information than
you do. We will give you the latest news live."
Air Algerie is
Algeria's national airline, with flights to 28 countries.
The deadliest incident
in the airline's history occurred in March 2003 when a domestic fight crashed
after takeoff, killing 102 people on board. One person survived.
In February, a Hercules
C-130 military aircraft crashed in the mountains of
eastern Algeria, killing 77 of the 78 people on board.
The MD-83's
disappearance comes exactly a week after a Malaysia Airlines plane was brought
down in Ukraine with 298 people on board.
Air
Algerie says it has no information at present but will give updates when it
does
Authorities
lost contact 50 minutes after it took off from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
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