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Full coverage¹: Air Algerie Flight Lost Radar² Contact after Takeoff

The first images of the Air Algerie flight AH5017 crash site in Mali have emerged a day after plane crashed with 116 people on board. The footage was filmed by soldiers from Burkina Faso, where the flight took off early Thursday morning. It was aired on the French national public TV station, France Two. 

The first images of the Air Algerie flight AH5017 crash site in Mali have emerged a day after plane crashed with 116 people on board.

Unrecognisable debris³, seats, luggages, and twisted metal lay scattered⁴ in the sand. Such a scene makes it harder to find a source of the crash but easier to imagine how it happened. Unfortuantely, not a single survivor⁵ has been found from Flight AH5017

"The Air Algerie plane held 51 French citizens and was found last night at Gossi, east of Mali near their border with Burkina Faso. French troops, who are already on site, have secured the location and have started the investigation⁶," French president Francois Hollande said.

The plane was travelling from Ouagadougou to Algiers, but disappeared just 50 minutes after take-off. France was deeply shaken by the incident, since nearly half of the passengers aboard were French citizens.

France’s Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius admitted that the site would be difficult to access, but vowed⁷ there would be an all-out effort to do so.

"As I told you, a team of the French Police’s forensic⁸ science department is flying out today to the site of the crash. Our aim is to bring the remains⁹ back as quickly as possible to Gao, where they will be taken care of and where we will be able to conduct the first round of identification before sending the victim remains to France and other countries," Laurent Fabius said.

France said one of the aircraft’s two black boxes has been found and sent to the northern Mali city of Gao for data recovery.

Bad weather has been widely blamed for the catastrophe¹⁰, as the plane requested to change course due to fierce storms. But authorities say without a full investigation any possibility is open, including terrorism.

Burkina Faso and Algeria have declared a three-day national mourning for the victims. But, for those families who are suffering from such a tremendous loss, results from the first round of investigation may be the best consolation¹¹ right now.

Relatives of victims wait at the international airport of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, July 25, 2014. No passengers aboard the Air Algerie flight AH 5017 that crashed over Mali can survive, Algeria 's official APS news agency reported on Friday. Operated by Air Algerie, the Spanish MD-83 reported missing 50 minutes after it took off from Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso, en route to Algiers on Thursday. (Xinhua)