Nigerian killed in Algeria plane crash

There were no survivors in the crash.

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A Nigerian was among 116 people who died in Thursday’s air crash involving an Algerian airplane.
Wreckage of Flight AH 5017 were found by French soldiers near Malian border with Burkina Faso, where it is believed the plane came down due to bad weather.

The plane was travelling from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso to Algiers, the capital of Algeria.

All of the 110 passengers and six crew members perished in the crash, French President Francois Hollande said.

Mr. Hollande said one flight data recorder had been recovered.

The passengers on the Air Algerie flight included 51 French citizens.

Burkina Faso authorities said the passenger list comprised 27 people from Burkina Faso, 51 French, eight Lebanese, six Algerians, two from Luxembourg, five Canadians, four Germans, one Cameroonian, one Belgian, one Egyptian, one Ukrainian, one Swiss, one Nigerian and one Malian.

The six crew members are Spanish.

The identity of the Nigerian is not yet clear.

French Interior Minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, told a French radio that the aircraft was destroyed the moment it crashed.

French authorities said poor weather was the most likely cause of the crash, but said they were not ruling out other possibilities.

Investigations into the accident have commenced, they said.

“French soldiers who are on the ground have started the first investigations. Sadly there are no survivors,” Mr. Hollande said.

He said the plane’s debris is concentrated in a small area.

“There are theories, especially the weather, but I’m not excluding any theory,” he said.

Traffic controllers lost contact with the plane about an hour after take-off Thursday after pilots reported severe storms.

Officials said the pilot had contacted Niger’s control tower in Niamey to change course because of a sandstorm.