15 killed and more than 200 injured when UN-run school used as shelter in Gaza is shelled, Gaza health ministry says
24 July 2014
Last updated at 14:08 GMT
It is the fourth time that a UN facility has been hit in Israel's offensive against Hamas militants.
In the past 16 days of fighting, more than 725 Palestinians and 30 Israelis have been killed, officials say.
Israel launched its military offensive on 8 July with the declared objective of stopping Hamas firing rockets from Gaza.
Shellfire 'kills 15 in Gaza school'
At least 15 people have
been killed and more than 200 injured when a UN-run school used as a
shelter in Gaza was shelled, the Gaza health ministry says.
Hundreds of Palestinians were in the school in Beit Hanoun, fleeing heavy fighting in the area.It is the fourth time that a UN facility has been hit in Israel's offensive against Hamas militants.
In the past 16 days of fighting, more than 725 Palestinians and 30 Israelis have been killed, officials say.
Israel launched its military offensive on 8 July with the declared objective of stopping Hamas firing rockets from Gaza.
Algerian jet missing on Sahara route
24 July 2014 Last updated at 14:05 GMT
Algeria airliner missing on Sahara route from Burkina Faso
The BBC's Alex Duval-Smith in Mali says there was "very bad weather" in the area, as well as "armed groups"
Algeria's
national airline, Air Algerie, says it has lost contact with one of its
planes flying from Burkina Faso to Algiers across the Sahara.
Algerian aviation officials said the plane had crashed, but gave no further details.Contact was lost about 50 minutes after take-off from Ouagadougou, Air Algerie said, as the plane crossed Mali.
The airline said 50 French citizens were among the 110 passengers and six crew on board Flight AH 5017.
The pilot had contacted Niger's control tower in Niamey to change course because of a storm, correspondents say.
BBC West Africa correspondent Thomas Fessy says the route is well used by French travellers.
Air Algerie spokesperson Houari Zuhair confirms "contact was lost"
France's civil aviation body said crisis centres had been set up at airports in Paris and Marseille.
An Air Algerie spokesman quoted by Reuters said the provisional passenger list also included 24 people from Burkina Faso, eight Lebanese, four Algerians, two from Luxembourg, one Belgian, one Swiss, one Nigerian, one Cameroonian, one Ukrainian and one Romanian.
Officials in Lebanon, however, said there were at least 10 Lebanese citizens on the flight.
"In keeping with procedures, Air Algerie has launched its emergency plan," Air Algerie officials, quoted by APS news agency (in French), said.
Later, an Algerian official told Reuters: "I can confirm that it has crashed."
However, he declined to give any details about what had happened to the aircraft.
The plane is operated by Air Algerie and chartered from Spanish airline Swiftair.
Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal reportedly told Algerian radio: "The plane disappeared at Gao (in Mali), 500km (300 miles) from the Algerian border."
Bad weather UN troops in Mali say they understand the plane came down between Gao and Tessalit, the BBC's Alex Duval Smith in the Malian capital Bamako reports.
Brigadier General Koko Essien, who is leading the UN troops, told the BBC that the area leading up to the Algerian border was vast and sparsely populated.
He added that weather in the area had been bad overnight.
Armed groups are also said to be active in the area. However, at the moment the most probable scenario looks like a plane that came down in bad weather, our correspondent adds.
An Algerian official had previously told Reuters that the plane was an Airbus A320.
An unnamed Air Algerie company source, speaking to AFP news agency, said: "The plane was not far from the Algerian frontier when the crew was asked to make a detour because of poor visibility and to prevent the risk of collision with another aircraft on the Algiers-Bamako route."
"Contact was lost after the change of course."
Flight AH 5017 flies the Ouagadougou-Algiers route four times a week, AFP reported.
French Transport Minister Frederic Cuvillier told reporters that it was likely there were also many French nationals on board the plane.
In February a military plane in Algeria crashed, killing 77 people on board.
The Hercules C-130 crashed into a mountain in Oum al-Bouaghi province, en route to Constantine, in bad weather conditions. Only one person on board survived.
Chris Yates, aviation analyst, said the aircraft was "relatively elderly"
- Twin rear-engine, short-medium range airliner
- More powerful version of the MD-80 type, based on earlier DC-9
- Range: 4,637km (2,881 miles)
- Capacity: 172 passengers
- First flew: 1984
- copy http://www.bbc.com/
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário