Breaking: Algerian Plane Crashes in Niger, Killing 116 People On Board!

According to UK DailyMail reports, An Air Algerie flight crashed in the Sahara today with 116 people on board that reportedly included the Cuban president's daughter.

Air navigation services lost track of the Swiftair MD-83 around 50 minutes into the flight after the crew reportedly asked to change course over fears it was flying into a storm.

The plane, which is operated by Air Algerie, was last picked up on radar at 1.55am GMT en route from Burkina Faso to Algiers.

It should have landed in the Algerian capital around three hours later, but didn't arrive.

Wreckage from the flight has been spotted in a 'very inaccessible desert area' midway between Gao and Kidal in Mali, according to aviation officials.

Wreckage of flight AH5017 has reportedly been spotted by French fighter pilots in the Sahara in Mali.

The crash comes after a treacherous week for the aviation industry in which 298 people were killed when flight MH17 plane was shot down over Ukraine and 48 people died in a crash in Taiwan.

Airlines have also cancelled flights into Tel Aviv due to the conflict in Gaza.

The Facebook page for Ouagadougou airport, where the plane took off, claimed Mariela Castro, the 51-year-old daughter of Cuban president Raul Castro and niece of former leader Fidel Castro, was among those on board.

However, this has not been independently verified.

Ms Castro is a prominent gay rights advocate and Aids prevention activist and is married with three children.

The list of passengers on AH5017 includes 51 French, 27 Burkina Faso nationals, eight Lebanese, six Algerians and five Canadians.

There were also four Germans, two Luxemburg nationals, one Swiss, one Belgium, one Egyptian, one Ukrainian, one Nigerian, one Cameroonian and one Malian, Burkina Faso Transport Minister Jean Bertin Ouedraogo said. 

The six crew members are Spanish, according to the Spanish pilots' union. 

The flight path of AH5017 from Ouagadougou, the capital of the west African nation of Burkina Faso, to Algiers was not immediately clear. 

However, Burkina Faso Transport Minister Jean Bertin Ouedragor said the flight had been asked to change route because of a storm around 30 minutes after taking off.