French troops find the crashed Air Algerie flight, its black box, and no survivors

(Image credit: CC by: Tim Rees)

last updated 8 January 2015

On Friday, French President Francois Hollande reported that a French military unit had found the wreckage of Air Algerie Flight 5017, which crashed in Mali less than an hour after takeoff from Burkina Faso early Thursday. None of the 110 Algiers-bound passengers or six crew members survived the crash, Hollande said, but the French troops did recover the plane's black box.

The black box should help determine what caused the third fatal crash of a commercial jetliner in the past week. French officials say the ethnic Tuareg separatists fighting in Mali are capable of downing a jet at cruising altitude. The only real public clue so far is from Burkina Faso Transport Minister Jean Bertin Ouedraogo, who said that before the crash the Spanish-owned aircraft had asked air-traffic controllers in Niger to reroute the plane due to heavy rains.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

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