Unfavorable weather conditions, „most likely cause”
Weather conditions are the “most likely cause” for the Air Algerie plane crash in Mali, Paris excluding “from the beginning the possibility of a ground shooting, which is highly unlikely”, AFP reports.
„We believe that this plane was damaged by the weather conditions”, said French Minister of Interior Bernard Cazeneuve for RTL radio station, adding however that „no hypothesis can be excluded as long as the investigation has not revealed everything”. „But the most likely cause is this one”, the minister added.
The head of French diplomacy, Laurent Fabius, announced on Thursday evening that no hypothesis is being excluded to explain the disappearance of the Air Algerie flight, which left from Ouagadougou to Alger on the night of Wednesday to Thursday.
„The only thing we know for sure is the weather alert”, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
On Friday the French Secretary of State for Transport, Frédéric Cuvillier, declared that Paris excluded “from the beginning the possibility of a ground shooting, which is highly unlikely, even impossible”, pointing out that the weather was extremely unfavorable.
He also stated that “it’s a very small chance, even null, that there are any survivors”. Given the state of the plane it is very unlikely, even impossible that there would be any survivors, Cuvillier said.
The Air Algerie aircraft, which was on the Ouagadougou-Alger route, disappeared on Thursday with 116 people on board in northern Mali.
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