France says Air Algeria plane wreckage found in Mali, near border with Burkina Faso

PARIS – French officials say that the wreckage of an Air Algeria plane which crashed with 116 people aboard has been found in Mali.

A message posted Friday on the website of President Francois Hollande said the wreckage had been clearly identified despite the disintegration of the aircraft, and that a French military unit was being sent to secure the site.

The MD-83 aircraft, owned by Spanish company Swiftair and leased by Algeria's flagship carrier, disappeared from radar less than an hour after it took off early Thursday from Burkina Faso's capital of Ouagadougou for Algiers.