UPDATE: Search parties from Mali and Burkina Faso have found the wreckage of Air Algerie flight AH5017 in a remote area near the Mali-Burkina Faso border.

General Gilbert Diendere, a member of the crisis unit in Burkina Faso, said his team had already inspected the wreckage near Boulikessi, 50 km (31 miles) from the frontier.

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Speaking to local television, Diendere said they saw the burned and scattered remains of the aircraft, and also saw bodies in the wreckage.

"Sadly, the team saw no one on site. It saw no survivors," the general said.

The plane had 110 passengers and six crew on board. Almost half of the passengers are French citizens.

Earlier, the plane disappeared from radar screens shortly after taking off from Burkina Faso at about 1 p.m. local time (9:17 p.m. EDT)

The Air Algerie flight was flight 5017, an MD83 medium-range aircraft owned by the Spanish company SwiftAir and operated by Air Algerie, Algeria's national carrier.

Communications Minister Alain Edouard Traore said the accident was the worst in Burkina Faso's aviation history. The government has declared two days of national mourning starting on Friday.

Burkina Faso authorities released  the following breakdown of the nationalities of the passengers: 51 French, 27 Burkinabe, eight Lebanese, six Algerians, five Canadians, four Germans, two from Luxembourg, one Cameroonian, one Belgian, one Egyptian, one Ukranian, one Swiss, one Nigerian and one Malian.

The Lebanese Foreign Ministry said its embassy in Abidjan has estimated the number of Lebanese citizens on the flight at at least 20, some of whom may have dual nationality.

The plane was earlier advised to adjust its route because of a storm near Burkina Faso.

Earlier, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the Air Algerie flight had probably crashed after it was reported missing. Upon receiving the report, the French sent out jetfighters a few hours ago to scour the route that was supposed to be taking.

Burkina Faso officials first heard of the location from villagers near the border calling about a loud explosion. Later, herders were said to have reached the crash site and led search officials to it in the evening.

French President Francois Hollande had decided yesterday to cancel a planned overseas trip to French territories and had ordered all military and civilian means to be used in locating the aircraft and investigating the cause of the accident.

The French government has also set up crisis centers in Paris and other cities to attend to the needs of the relatives of French citizens on board.

French military units have been deployed for quite some time in the area where the crash occurred and can provide assistance in securing the site and bringing the bodies of the victims home.  

TagsAlgeria, Mali