The crash of Air Algérie Flight 5017 killed all 116 aboard and remains the deadliest aviation accident in Malian history.
Key Facts
- Passengers killed
- 110
- Crew killed
- 6
- Total fatalities
- 116
- Aircraft type
- McDonnell Douglas MD-83
- Time to disappear from radar
- ~50 minutes after takeoff
- Investigation report published
- April 2016 by French BEA
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
While the aircraft cruised on autopilot, ice accreted on the engines, causing a reduction in thrust. This led to a high-altitude stall from which the crew was unable to recover, according to the French Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety investigation concluded in April 2016.
On 24 July 2014, a Swiftair-operated McDonnell Douglas MD-83 flying as Air Algérie Flight 5017 from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, to Algiers, Algeria, disappeared from radar approximately fifty minutes after takeoff and crashed near Gossi, Mali, killing all 116 people on board.
The crash became the deadliest aviation accident in Malian history. The BEA issued safety recommendations to Air Algérie, the US FAA, and the governments of Burkina Faso and Mali. Spanish charter airline Swiftair was brought to trial before the Paris Criminal Court in March 2026 on charges of involuntary manslaughter.