Algeria plane missing on Sahara route from Burkina Faso

Algeria's national airline, Air Algerie, says it has lost contact with one of its planes flying from Burkina Faso to Algiers across the Sahara.

Contact was lost about 50 minutes after take-off from Ouagadougou, the airline said.

The passenger airliner was last seen at 0155 GMT, it added. It should have landed at 0510.

Flight AH 5017 had 110 passengers and six crew on board, according to the Spanish airline Swiftair, which owns the plane.

Alex Duval-Smith in Mali said there was "very bad weather" in the area, as well as "armed groups".

  • Africa