Poor weather blamed for Mali air disaster

Poor weather was the most likely cause of the crash of an Air Algerie flight in the West African state of Mali that killed 118 people on board, French officials said.

Investigators at the scene of the crash in northern Mali concluded the airliner broke apart when it hit the ground, suggesting it was unlikely to have been the victim of an attack.

“French soldiers who are on the ground have started the first investigations. Sadly, there are no survivors,” French president Francois Hollande told reporters.

A column of 100 soldiers and 30 vehicles from the French force stationed in the region arrived to secure the crash site near the northern Mali town of Gossi and to recover bodies, a Defence Ministry official said.

Hollande said one of the black box flight recorders had already been recovered and would be analysed.

“The plane’s debris is concentrated in a small area, but it is too early to draw conclusions,” Hollande said of the wreckage of the plane carrying at least 51 French nationals that crashed near the border with Burkina Faso, from where it had taken off.

“There are theories, especially the weather, but I’m not excluding any theory.”

The death toll was revised to 118 from 116 after a final passenger manifest was issued.

“They have to do everything to reassemble the bodies and bring them home so that we can mourn properly,” said Alidou Ouedraogo, whose daughter was among the 27 citizens of Burkina Faso killed in the crash.

Highlighting the impact of the crash, television footage issued by Burkinabe officials showed hundreds of small pieces of debris scattered around flat scrub land in pools of muddy water with little visible sign of an intact aircraft.

Burkina Faso prime minister Luc Adolphe Tiao told a news conference that the plane had been scattered into small fragments: “We’re not even sure that we can piece together the bodies they have been so badly destroyed,” he said.

Aviation officials lost contact with flight AH5017 at around 0155 GMT on Thursday, less than an hour after taking off for Algeria, following a request by the pilot to change course due to bad weather.

Another plane crash is likely to add to nerves over flying a week after a Malaysia Airlines plane was downed over Ukraine, and after a TransAsia Airways plane crashed off Taiwan during a thunderstorm on Wednesday.

International airlines also temporarily cancelled flights into Tel Aviv this week, citing security concerns amid the instability in Gaza.

Air France, which has several flights using the same path as the Air Algerie flight, said it would avoid flying over the site of the crashed plane as a “precautionary measure”.

Transport minister Frederic Cuvillier said the strong smell of aircraft fuel at the crash site and the fact that the debris was scattered over a relatively small area also suggested the cause of the crash was linked to weather, a technical problem or a cumulation of such factors.

Pants bomb bid soiled

Underpants bomber Umar Abdulmutlallab failed to blow up a jumbo jet on Christmas Day 2009 — because he had soiled himself after wearing the same pants for two weeks.

British-educated Nigerian Abdulmutlallab’s device failed to detonate but caught fire and he ended up with groin injuries.

John Pistole, head of the Transportation Security Administration, revealed the soiling in Abdulmutlallab’s pants was what saved hundreds of lives that Christmas.

Describing how he nearly succeeded, Pistole said: “It was very close, the bomber had had the device on him for over two weeks.

Abdulmutlallab is serving life without parole for the terror plot.