Algerian-operated jet crashes in Mali

An Algerian jetliner that was carrying 110 passengers crashed on Thursday, the airline operating the flight said.

Air Algerie tweeted that its Flight 5017 from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, to Algiers’ Houari Boumediene Airport crashed after officials said earlier that they had lost contact with plane. 

“AH5017 The plane crashed in Tilemsi,” the company tweeted in a French language message that was translated by media outlets.

{mosads}Flight 5017 was an MD-83 airplane made by former U.S. manufacturer McDonnell Douglas, which has since merged with Boeing. The single-aisle, twin-engine plane is owned by the Spanish company Swiftair, which confirmed it had lost contact.

The crash of Air Algerie’s Flight 5017 is the third major international airline disaster in a week.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over Ukraine last week, resulting in the deaths of 295 people who were on board, and TransAsia Airways Flight GE222 crashed in a storm in Taiwan on Wednesday, killing at least 48.

Additionally, U.S. airlines were forced to cancel flights to Israel this week amid military strife there.

The turmoil has rocked the aviation industry after it had begun to return to normalcy following the disappearance of a different Malaysia Airlines plane, Flight 370, in the spring.

Air Algerie tweeted it has confirmed so far that there were 50 French passengers aboard Flight 5017, as well as 24 from Burkina Faso, eight Lebanese passengers, six Algerians, five Canadians, four Germans, one from Luxembourg and one from Mali.