United Nations specialists in Mali have located the second flight recorder, or black box, from the Air Algerie plane that crashed in the West African country on Thursday.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali, known as MINUSMA, revealed the latest development three days after Flight 5017, bound for Algeria from Burkina Faso, came down killing all 116 people on board. 

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French President Francoise Hollande said the wreckage was found in a "disintegrated state" in the northern Gossi region, near Mali's border with Burkina Faso. 

Search teams located the first black box at the crash site on Friday.

The black boxes could provide clues to what led to the tragedy.

Reports say initial investigation indicates the aircraft broke apart and that there are no signs of sabotage.  

There are conflicting accounts on the number of passengers and crew on Flight 5017. 

Air Algerie says there were 117 people, but French officials put the number at 118 and the Algerian government, at 116.

The U.N. mission in Mali is assisting the local authorities by providing logistics, transportation, technical and scientific expertise, as well as help securing the crash site, which is in a remote and inaccessible location. 

In Burkina Faso, a government spokesman announced that three family members of those who died in the crash had flown to Mali to view the site of the disaster.

A psychologist accompanied the family members, who were from Burkina Faso, France and Lebanon.

In Paris, a meeting between President Hollande and families of French victims was to take place this weekend. 

French government ministers were also attending the meeting to brief the victims' relatives on the status of the investigation. 

France has sent 33 forensic experts to Mali to help in collecting and identifying bodies, while French soldiers stationed in the area are securing the crash site.

Fifty-four French nationals died in the crash. 

TagsAir Algerie, plane crash