The wreckage of a plane that disappeared with 116 people on board on a flight from Burkina Faso to Algiers has been found in northern Mali between Kidal and Aguelhoc.

The Burkina Faso army said the plane, operated by Algeria's national airline Air Algerie, had crashed about 50 kilometers from the Burkinabe border.

Air Algerie said, the plane lost contact 50 minutes after it had taken off from Ouagadougou.

Air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane early yesterday after pilots reported severe storms.

The passengers included 51 French citizens The McDonnell Douglas MD-83 Flight AH 5017 had been chartered from Spanish airline Swiftair.

Gilbert Diendere, a Burkina Faso Army General, said searchers had found human remains and burnt and scattered plane wreckage.