Algeria airliner crashes in Mali

A passenger plane carrying 116 people is feared to have crashed in Mali. 

The plane was flying from Burkina Faso to the Algerian capital Algiers when it went down.

It has earlier gone missing for over six hours.

Contact with the Air Algerie flight was lost over the Sahara as it crossed Mali in bad weather, officials said.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the plane, which has 51 French citizens aboard, "probably crashed," reports BBC.

French media reported that soldiers had found wreckage in Tilemsi, central Mali, but this was not confirmed.

Reuters quoted Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita as saying that wreckage had been found much further east, between Aguelhoc and Kidal.

Contact with Flight AH 5017, chartered from Spanish airline Swiftair, was lost about 50 minutes after take-off from Ouagadougou, Air Algerie said.

The pilot had contacted Niger's control tower in Niamey to change course because of a sandstorm, officials say.

Air Algerie spokesperson Houari Zuhair confirms "contact was lost"

Speaking in Paris, Mr Fabius said: "Despite intensive search efforts no trace of the aircraft has yet been found. The plane probably crashed."

He said two French Mirage fighter planes were scouring the area.

French President Francois Hollande cancelled a planned visit overseas and said every effort was being made to find the plane.

"The search will take as long as needed," he told reporters.

Earlier, an Algerian official told Reuters that the plane had crashed, but gave no further details.

France's civil aviation body said crisis centres had been set up at airports in Paris and Marseille.

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, according to the Spanish pilots' union.

Crisis centre set up in Charles de Gaulle airport near Paris. 24 July 2014 A crisis centre has been set up in Charles de Gaulle airport near Paris.