Iran Commiserates with Algeria over Airliner Crash Disaster
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and the country's Foreign Ministry in separate messages extended Tehran's condolences to Algeria on a deadly plane crash that killed all 116 people aboard on Thursday.
In a Thursday message to his Algerian counterpart Abdelaziz Bouteflika, President Rouhani condoled with the African nation and offered deep sympathy to the bereaved families of the victims.
Meanwhile, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham also extended condolences to the families of the dead passengers, nearly half of whom were French.
The wreckage of the Air Algerie flight AH5017 that was carrying 110 passengers and six crew members from Burkina Faso to Algiers was found Thursday in Mali.
The Algerian commercial plane lost contact with controllers early Thursday, just an hour after it took off, as it headed into a rainstorm. The wreckage was found near the border of Burkina Faso, according to AP.
The passengers aboard included 51 French, 27 Burkina Faso nationals, eight Lebanese, six Algerians, five Canadians, four Germans, two Luxembourg nationals, one Swiss, one Belgian, one Egyptian, one Ukrainian, one Nigerian, one Cameroonian and one Malian, officials said.
