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No-one has survived the Air Algerie plane crash - French President

Updated 12.05 French President Francois Hollande says no-one survived the Air Algerie plane crash...
Newstalk
Newstalk

10.13 25 Jul 2014


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No-one has survived the Air Al...

No-one has survived the Air Algerie plane crash - French President

Newstalk
Newstalk

10.13 25 Jul 2014


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Updated 12.05

French President Francois Hollande says no-one survived the Air Algerie plane crash in Mali.

The burnt-out wreckage of the plane carrying 116 people, including 51 French nationals, which vanished from radar in West Africa, has been discovered south of Gao.

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Mr Hollande said the jet's black box flight recorder had also been recovered by the French military and was being taken to the town.

"French soldiers who are on the ground have started the first investigations. Sadly there are no survivors," he said.

"The plane's debris is concentrated in a small area, but it is too early to draw conclusions."

He said bad weather was the likely cause of the crash, but added: "I'm not excluding any theory."

Burkina Faso's commander in chief Gilbert Diendere earlier confirmed a team had been to the crash site last night to inspect it:

Minister of communications Alain Edouard Traore described the accident as the greatest tragedy in the country's air history.

He said President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who has declared two days of national mourning, is due to visit the crash site today.

The dead

Burkina Faso's transport minister Jean Bertin Ouedrago said the plane's passenger list included 51 French citizens.

Also on the jet were 27 Burkina Faso nationals, eight Lebanese, six Algerians, five Canadians, four Germans, two Luxemburg nationals, one Swiss, one Belgian, one Egyptian, one Ukrainian, one Nigerian, one Cameroonian and one Malian.

The six crew members were Spanish; Flight AH5017 was owned by Spanish private airline Swiftair and operated by Air Algerie.

BBC journalist Alex Duval Smith spoke to Newstalk's Breakfast from the region:

The McDonnell Douglas MD-83 had been missing for hours before news of its disappearance was made public.

Ouagadougou is in almost a straight line south of Algiers, separated by Mali where unrest continues in the north of the country.

Airlines had been warned not to fly over Mali in recent days.

However, a senior French official said it is unlikely that fighters in Mali could shoot down a plane.

They are known to have shoulder-fired weapons which could not hit an aircraft travelling at a cruising altitude of some 33,000ft.

Mali's minister of transport Mamadou Hachim Koumare says his country will take charge of the inquiry:


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