ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — An Air Algerie flight carrying 116 people from Burkina Faso to Algeria's capital disappeared from radar early today over northern Mali after heavy rains were reported, according to the plane's owner and government officials in France and Burkina Faso.

Air navigation services lost track of the MD-83 about 50 minutes after takeoff from Ougadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, at 0155 GMT (9:55 p.m. EDT Wednesday), the official Algerian news agency APS said.

Burkina Faso's transport minister said 50 French nationals were among those onboard, along with 24 Burkina Faso nationals, six Lebanese, five Canadians, four Algerians, two Luxemburg nationals, one Swiss, one Nigerian, one Cameroonian and one Malian.

Transport Minister Jean Bertin Ouedraogo also said the plane sent its last message around 0130 GMT (9:30 p.m. EDT), asking Niger air control to change its route because of heavy rains in the area.

French Transport Minister Frederic Cuvillier said the plane vanished over northern Mali. He spoke Thursday from a crisis center set up in the French Foreign Ministry.

The plane had been missing for hours before the news was made public. It wasn't immediately clear why airline or government officials didn't make it public earlier.

The news comes one week after the Malaysia

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Airlines plane shootdown in Ukraine and one day after an air disaster in Taiwan.  Taiwan's TransAsia Airways says stormy weather on the trailing edge of Typhoon Matmo is the likely cause of a plane crash on a Taiwanese island that killed 48 people. The plane was carrying 58 passengers and crew when it crashed while landing in the Penghu island chain between Taiwan and China late Wednesday.

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