Missing plane wreckage found in Mali

The wreckage of the Air Algerie airliner carrying 116 people that disappeared early on Thursday has been found in Mali near the border with Burkina Faso.

A statement from the Elysée Palace in Paris said the aircraft had been “clearly identified in a state of disintegration”.

The passengers include 51 French, 27 Burkina Faso nationals, eight Lebanese, six Algerians, five Canadians, four Germans, two Luxembourg nationals, one Swiss, one Belgian, one Egyptian, one Ukrainian, one Nigerian, one Cameroonian and one Malian. The six crew members are Spanish, according to the Spanish pilots’ union.

It’s believed there are no survivors.

The wreckage was found about 50 kilometres from the border of Burkina Faso near the village of Boulikessi in Mali, a Burkina Faso presidential aide said.

French authorities said that contingent of French troops stationed in Mali were on their way to secure the site, in the region of Gossi, southwest of the northern Malian town of Gao.