Air Algeria flight disappears from radar screens

Algeria's national airline, Air Algerie, said that it has lost contact with one of its flights flying from Burkina Faso.

The plane disappeared from the radar screen nearly 50 minutes after take-off from Ouagadougou, said Algeria''s air navigation service. The MD83 plane was carrying 110 passengers and six crew members.

The flight left Ouagadougou shortly after 1:55 am (local time) and was expected to land at 5:10 am in the Algerian capital (in Algerian time) but the national carrier confirmed that the plane had never arrived at its destination

According to the Weather Channel, after takeoff flight AH 5017 crossed into an area where many storms broke out "with gusts of strong winds and high electrical activity."

Air Algeria has established an "emergency plan", but does not yet speak of a crash.