Air Algerie flight AH5017 off radar! Air disaster strikes again!

Bad air-news season is in full effect - Air Algerie today

Flight AH5017 belonging to Air Algerie has broken radio contact after 50 minutes into the flight earlier today.

The aircraft, carrying 116 people, has allegedly crashed in Mali prior to its radar disappearing.

The designated route was Burkina Faso to Algiers, departing from Ouagadougou airport.

The first conclusions drawn by a preliminary search over the possible crash are, the plane is most likely to have fallen somewhere near Gao, in the Tilemsi region, Mali.

The MD83 aircraft, charted from Swiftair, operated by Air Algerie, was expected to land at 05:10 GMT.

So far, no contact has been established with the vehicle.

As fat as passenger demographics go, the approximate numbers are: 50 French nationals, 24 Burkinabe, 8 Lebanese, 4 Algerians, 2 Luxembourg, 1 Belgian, 1 Swiss, 1 Nigerian, 1 Cameroonian and 1 Romanian.

Given recent context involving plane crashes, the Algerian Ministry of Defense does not rule out the possibility of terrorist take-down, as reported by Al Arabiya.

Francoise Hollande, the French president has announced its postponing of the trip to La Reunion due to this disturbing event.

As rescue teams narrow their search, the finding of the wreckage is imminent. The most pressing question will be: what brought this plane down?

A swift conclusion from the experts after analyzing the contents of the black boxes is expected. Given the numbers of French nationals involved in this accident, French authorities will more than likely be involved in the investigation.