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French Soldiers Reach Air Algérie Crash Site French Soldiers Reach Air Algérie Crash Site
(about 4 hours later)
PARIS — As a detachment of French soldiers reached the crash site in Mali of an Air Algérie jetliner, officials in Paris said Friday that the accident was most likely weather-related and that the distribution of the wreckage over a limited area suggested that the plane probably hit the ground intact. PARIS — As a detachment of French soldiers reached the crash site of an Air Algérie jetliner in Mali, officials in Paris said on Friday that the accident was most likely weather-related and that the distribution of the wreckage over a limited area suggested that the plane probably hit the ground intact.
“We rule out — and have from the start — any ground strike,” Frédéric Cuvillier, the French junior minister for transport, told France 2 television on Friday. President François Hollande of France said that a black box had been found at the crash site and confirmed that there were no survivors. “We rule out — and have from the start — any ground strike,” Frédéric Cuvillier, the French junior minister for transport, told France 2 television on Friday. President François Hollande of France said that a data recorder, or “black box,” had been found at the crash site and confirmed that there were no survivors.
Mr. Hollande spoke by telephone on Friday with Mali’s president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, and offered France’s full cooperation with the investigation as well as the repatriation of the victims’ bodies. Speaking to reporters on Friday, Mr. Hollande said that the number of people who died in the crash was 118, two more than the government and airline officials said on Thursday.
Following international rules, Mali will lead the investigation into the cause of the accident. But one senior official in the French Transport Ministry said that the French Bureau of Investigations and Analysis would probably assume a significant role in the inquiry. Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, said that verification of the passenger manifest overnight had confirmed that there had been 112 passengers and six crew members on board. The number of French victims was also revised upward, to 54 from 51, including several dual-nationals, Mr. Fabius said.
Speaking to reporters earlier Friday, Mr. Hollande said the number of people who died in the crash was 118, two more than the government and airline officials said on Thursday. A spokeswoman for the Elysée palace confirmed the new figure but declined to immediately provide any further details about the revised total or offer an explanation for the discrepancy. Mr. Hollande said he spoke by telephone on Friday with Mali’s president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, and offered France’s full cooperation with the investigation as well as the repatriation of the victims’ bodies.
Following international rules, Mali will lead the investigation into the cause of the accident. But Mr. Fabius said that experts from the French Bureau of Investigation and Analysis were expected to arrive in Mali on Saturday and would assume a significant role in the inquiry.
The wreckage of Flight 5017 was found by an international search team just before nightfall on Thursday in an isolated area, about 60 miles south of the town of Gao in eastern Mali. Soldiers from Burkina Faso, who were the first to arrive on the scene, said they had found several bodies among the burned-out hull of the plane, a Boeing MD-83.The wreckage of Flight 5017 was found by an international search team just before nightfall on Thursday in an isolated area, about 60 miles south of the town of Gao in eastern Mali. Soldiers from Burkina Faso, who were the first to arrive on the scene, said they had found several bodies among the burned-out hull of the plane, a Boeing MD-83.
“We think the aircraft crashed for reasons linked to the weather conditions,” Bernard Cazeneuve, the French interior minister, said in an interview on the French radio station RTL.“We think the aircraft crashed for reasons linked to the weather conditions,” Bernard Cazeneuve, the French interior minister, said in an interview on the French radio station RTL.
Gen. Gilbert Diendéré, chief of the Burkina Faso general staff, said on local television that troops had discovered the remains of the plane “totally burned out and scattered on the ground.”Gen. Gilbert Diendéré, chief of the Burkina Faso general staff, said on local television that troops had discovered the remains of the plane “totally burned out and scattered on the ground.”
Video taken at the crash site by soldiers from Burkina Faso shows the plane’s charred, fragmentary remains. They are scattered over a broad swath of blackened and muddy terrain, and in the images, no part from the plane is identifiable. The amateur footage, shown on French television Friday morning, shows one body in the wreckage. Video taken at the crash site by soldiers from Burkina Faso, and broadcast on French television Friday morning, showed the plane’s charred, fragmentary remains scattered over a broad swath of blackened and muddy terrain.
Roughly 100 French troops and 30 vehicles had departed by road from Gao early on Friday “to secure the site and gather any elements useful to the investigation, as well as the bodies of passengers,” a French Defense Ministry spokesman said. A French Defense Ministry spokesman said the wreckage had been found by a Reaper surveillance drone operated by the French military based on information provided by the authorities in Burkina Faso.
The spokesman said the troops were to join an international team that arrived at the crash site late Thursday. He said the wreckage had been located by a Reaper surveillance drone operated by the French military based on information provided by the authorities in Burkina Faso. French troops were brought to the site around 2 a.m. Paris time and identified the aircraft. Roughly 100 French troops and 30 vehicles left Gao for the crash site early on Friday, said the French defense minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian.
Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, said verification of the passenger manifest overnight showed that the number of people on board the flight was 118, two more than originally reported by government and airline officials on Thursday. The figure included 112 passengers and six crew members. The number of French victims was also revised upward, to 54, from 51. That figure included several dual-nationals, Mr. Fabius said. French officials noted that the site was extremely remote, about a three-hour drive from Gao.
French officials stressed that the site was extremely remote, about a three-hour drive from Gao and six hours from Gossi. “It must be recognized that the physical conditions on the ground complicate the search,” Mr. Fabius, the foreign minister, said. “Our intention is to bring the bodies to Gao as quickly as possible.” He said initial identification of the victims would have to take place on site before the remains could be repatriated.
“It must be recognized that the physical conditions on the ground complicate the search,” Mr. Fabius said. “Our intention is to bring the bodies to Gao as quickly as possible,” he said, adding that initial identification of the victims would have to take place on site before the remains can be repatriated. Mr. Fabius said that “there were powerful storms active in the region” at the time the plane lost radio contact with air traffic controllers.
Mr. Fabius said it remained too early to determine the precise cause of the accident, but noted that “there were powerful storms active in the region” at the time the plane lost radio contact with air traffic controllers. The Burkina Faso government said that the aircraft’s last contact with ground control came a few minutes after it had passed northward out of the country’s air space. It said the crew later contacted air traffic controllers in Niamey, Niger, to say that the plane had encountered storms.
Mr. Fabius confirmed that experts from the French Bureau of Investigations and Analysis as well as French police investigators were being dispatched to Mali and were expected to arrive at the crash site on Saturday. Swiftair, the Spanish company that owned the plane, confirmed that all six crew members were Spanish citizens. Government sources said the passengers came from 14 countries, with France having the highest number of citizens aboard. Burkina Faso said 28 of its nationals were on board.
Details about some of the French victims began to emerge in local news media reports. One family in eastern France appeared to have 10 members aboard Flight 5017, said a spokesman for the prefecture of the Rhône-Alpes department, Agence France-Presse reported.
The crash comes at a time when the aviation industry is already reeling from the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine last week, the crash of TransAsia Airways Flight 222 in Taiwan on Wednesday and the suspension of flights to and from Tel Aviv this week because of rocket fire from Gaza.The crash comes at a time when the aviation industry is already reeling from the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine last week, the crash of TransAsia Airways Flight 222 in Taiwan on Wednesday and the suspension of flights to and from Tel Aviv this week because of rocket fire from Gaza.
Mr. Hollande has canceled a trip to the Comoros islands and the French territories of Réunion and Mayotte, and he was expected to hold further meetings with his cabinet on Friday to discuss the recovery operation. French ministers were expected to convene again on Saturday, followed by a meeting with the families of some of the victims at the Foreign Ministry. France, which was once a colonial power in the region, led an international effort last year to expel Islamist militants from towns in northern Mali that were overrun by Al Qaeda’s North African affiliate in 2012. The militants left behind stacks of manuals explaining how to use SA-7a and SA-7b shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles, which can shoot down an airliner flying low for takeoff or landing. But those militants are not known to possess heavier weapons that could strike an aircraft at cruising altitude.
France, which was once a colonial power in the region, retains extensive political and economic interests and a significant military presence in West Africa. It led an international effort last year to expel Islamist militants from towns in northern Mali that were overrun by Al Qaeda’s North African affiliate in 2012. The militants left behind stacks of manuals explaining in detail how to use SA-7a and SA-7b shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles, which can shoot down an airliner flying low for takeoff or landing. But those militants are not known to possess heavier weapons that could strike an aircraft at cruising altitude.
Flight 5017’s usual northward route to Algiers would have taken it over desert areas where the militant groups have been active. But French military officials in the region said it was highly unlikely that the Air Algérie flight had been shot down, as Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is believed to have been. The distribution of the wreckage in the Air Algérie crash was limited, while the Malaysia Airlines Flight came down in pieces, many of them miles apart and scattered across wheat fields.
Instead, early theories about the cause of the crash have focused on the weather.
The Burkina Faso government said that the aircraft’s last contact with ground control came a few minutes after it had passed northward out of the country’s air space. It said the crew contacted air traffic controllers in Niamey, Niger, at 1:47 a.m. local time, and informed them that the plane had encountered storms.
The jetliner belonged to a Spanish company, Swiftair, and was operated by Air Algérie. Swiftair confirmed that all six crew members were Spanish citizens. Government sources gave varying information about the nationalities of the passengers, who came from 14 countries. The French government counted 51 of its citizens among the victims, the highest number, while Burkina Faso said 28 of its nationals were on board the plane.
Swiftair said on Thursday that the jet, bearing the tail number EC-LTV, was built by McDonnell Douglas in 1996. The company merged with Boeing in 1997 and stopped producing MD-80-series planes the next year, but hundreds of the aircraft remain in use around the world. Air Algérie’s last major accident was in 2003, when Flight 6289, a Boeing 737, crashed shortly after takeoff from Tamanrasset in southern Algeria on its way to Algiers. Mechanical failure was blamed for the crash, which killed 102 people.