Paris - The wreckage of an Air Algeria airliner with 116 people on board has been found in Mali, near its border with Burkina Faso, the French Presidential Office said on Friday.
The MD-83 plane was clearly identified although it had disintegrated, the office said.
"A French military unit has been sent to secure the site and gather evidence," according to a statement by the office.
The AH5017 flight, which carried 110 passengers and six Spanish crew, disappeared from the radar screen 50 minutes after it took off from Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso, en route to Algiers. Among the passengers, 51 were French nationals.
Earlier in the day, Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra confirmed that the ill-fated passenger plane had crashed in neighbouring Mali. – SAnews.gov.za-Xinhua
