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Authorities Lose Contact With Air Algerie Aircraft

Authorities have lost contact with an Air Algerie aircraft traveling from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso to Algiers, Reuters reports citing the Algerian state news agency.

Reuters adds:

"APS said authorities lost contact with flight AH 5017 an hour after it took off from Burkina Faso."Spanish private airline company Swiftair confirmed it had no contact with its MD-83 aircraft operated by Air Algerie, which it said was carrying 110 passengers and six crew. An Algieran official had earlier said it was an Airbus A320."

In a statement, Swiftair said the flight took off at 9:17 p.m. ET on Wednesday, and was supposed to arrive shortly after 1 a.m. ET. on Thursday.

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"There is at this moment, no contact with the aircraft," Swiftair said.

Of course, this incident comes about a week after Malaysia Airlines flight MH17was shot down over Ukraine and a day after a Transasia Airways plane crash-landed in Taiwan, killing dozens of passengers.

This is a breaking news story. We'll update when we know more.

Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/

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