First images emerge of Air Algerie crash site

PARIS - Agence France-Presse

his photo provided Friday July 25, 2014 by the French army shows soldiers at the site of the plane crash in Mali. AP Photo

The first images of the Air Algerie crash site in Mali emerged Friday, showing a stark terrain littered with bits of a plane that appears to have been pulverised on impact.
      
The video, aired on France 2 television, was filmed by soldiers from Burkina Faso from where flight AH5017 took off early Thursday morning before disappearing from radar screens.
      
The grainy footage shows bits of the fuselage scattered over a large, sandy-looking terrain of dry shrubs, which is blackened in some areas.


      
Such was the violence of the apparent impact, that the debris seen on the video was barely recognisable as parts of an aircraft. A soldier is seen taking photos of the remains of the wreck.
      
The Air Algerie flight, which was operated by Spanish charter company Swiftair, had 116 people on board. All have been confirmed dead.
      
It took off from Burkina Faso's capital of Ouagadougou and was bound for Algiers, where many of the 51 French nationals on board were due to transit on to France.
      
The airline said 24 Burkina Faso citizens, eight Lebanese, six Algerians, six Spanish, five Canadians, four Germans and two Luxembourg nationals were also on board.
      
The wreckage of the plane was found late on Thursday in Mali near the border with Burkina Faso.