Missing Air Algerie MD-83 Reportedly Crashed
Air Algerie flight 5017 went missing en route to Algiers, while flying over Mali.
The missing Air Algerie flight AH 5017, which has reportedly crashed in Mali, was operated by an MD-83 aircraft leased from Spanish charter operator Swiftair, which has four of the type in its fleet. [Photo Aero Icarus Flickr: Creative Commons (BY-SA) by Aero Icarus]
The missing Air Algerie flight AH 5017, which has reportedly crashed in Mali, was operated by an MD-83 aircraft leased from Spanish charter operator Swiftair, which has four of the type in its fleet. [Photo Aero Icarus Flickr: Creative Commons (BY-SA) by Aero Icarus]

The Air Algerie McDonnell Douglas MD-83 carrying 110 passengers and six crewmembers that had gone missing while en route from the West African nation of Burkina Faso to Algiers has reportedly crashed in neighboring Mali. Burkino Faso Transport Minister Jean Bertin Ouedrago told Reuters that the crew asked to change its route at 1:38 GMT because of a storm in the area. In a statement made to Algerian state news agency APS, Air Algerie said that air traffic controllers lost contact with flight AH 5017 at 1:55 a.m. GMT on July 24. The aircraft, which was leased from Spanish charter airline Swiftair, had taken off from Ougadougou in Burkina Faso at 1:17 GMT and was due to lend in the Algerian capital Algiers at 5:10 GMT.