Swiftair MD-83 plane crash

The MD-83 operated by Swiftair on behalf of Air Algerie took off from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, for a passenger flight to Algiers, Algeria. 112 passengers and 6 crewmembers were onboard. The plane was enroute over Mali near Gao about 50 minutes into the flight when contact with the aircraft was lost. The plane crashed near Gossi, Mali, in a desert area. All 118 occupants were killed.

The plane was operated by Spanish airline Swiftair, which owns the plane. The plane took off uneventfully. After around 50 minutes of flight, while cruising over Mali, the pilots sent a message to ask Niger air control to change its route because of strong weather in the area. Heavy storm were prevailing in the area. Then the MD-83 vanished from radar screens. The plane crashed Southeast of the city of Gossi, about 50km north of the border Burkina Faso/Mali and about 100km southwest of Gao

The wreckage was found more than 15 hours later in North Mali, close to the Algerian border.