Tense Wait for News of Missing Algerian Jet in French Airports
"We heard about the disappearance of the plane on television". In French airports where some passengers of the missing Air Algerie flight were due to end their trip, relatives desperately waited for news of their loved ones.
Flight AH5017, which took off in Ouagadougou and was bound for Algiers, disappeared in the early morning over Mali with at least 116 passengers and crew on board, including around 50 French nationals -- some of whom were transiting through the Algerian capital on their way to France.
At Orly airport outside Paris, two young women visibly in shock, their eyes red, asked for information at the Air Algerie desk, saying their cousin was on board.
The 34-year-old man lives in Ouagadougou, the capital of the west African country of Burkina Faso, and was due to land in Orly around midday.
"They don't know anything here. They didn't even know that the plane had disappeared and they don't have a passenger list," said Laetitia, who found out about the news on television.
"They have no trace of the flight," the woman with her, Diata, said. "I called the (emergency) number but they didn't say anything. We're just waiting."
A little later, two older women arrived at the airport, tears in their eyes. They were immediately taken to a lounge on the fourth floor where a crisis cell had been set up.
The airline said it had 50 French, 24 from Burkino Faso, eight Lebanese, six Algerians, six Spanish, five Canadians, four Germans and two Luxembourg nationals on board.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said there were 51 French nationals on board, adding that the plane had "probably crashed."
Aviation sources told Agence France-Presse the airliner was a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 leased from Spanish company Swiftair, and the head of France's civil aviation authority said the plane had been checked this week when passing through France and was in good condition.
According to French President Francois Hollande, the pilots had decided to divert from their route due to "extremely difficult weather conditions."
Among the French, some were due to continue their trip to Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse after transiting through Algiers.
The head of Marseille-Marignane airport, Pierre Regis, said the flight from Algiers arrived on Thursday around 10:40 am (0840 GMT).
"At the arrivals, people realized that the passengers they were waiting for were not there," he said.
"They went to the information desk, where we took charge of them."
Seven passengers on the missing flight were due to land in Marseille, according to the border police.
Of these, five were from the same family, airport authorities said.
Source: Agence France Presse
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