The wreckage from missing Air Algerie flight AH5017 has been found in Mali, authorities have confirmed.
Burkina Faso's commander in chief Gilbert Diendere said the burnt-out wreckage of AH5017 was found south of the Mali town of Gao.
Diendere said he sent a search team from Burkina Faso to Mali to follow up on information received about the possible crash location.
"The team went to meet, first of all, our informers and bring our informers on the crash site. And indeed, the mission found, on the site, pieces of the plane, this team found on the site, sadly, remains of dead bodies.
"We were not able to evaluate exactly what is the situation as night began to fall and this team has confirmed that it has seen the remains of the plane, totally burned out and scattered on the ground."
The flight, which disappeared from radar since taking off from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso early yesterday (July 24) morning, was carrying 116 people onboard.
France's foreign minister Laurent Fabius said authorities believed the aircraft may have encountered bad weather after the pilot requested to change direction shortly after take-off due to a storm.
According to Sky news there were 51 French citizens, 27 Burkina Faso nationals, eight Lebanese, six Algerians, five Canadians, four Germans, two Luxemburg nationals, one Swiss, one Belgian, one Egyptian, one Ukrainian, one Nigerian, one Cameroonian and one Malian.
The six crew members were Spanish, according to the Spanish pilots' union.