ALERT -- Third Plane Crash in just One Week

For the third time in just one week, a passenger plane went down. Air Algerie [Al-Ja-Ree] Flight AH5017 disappeared almost an hour after takeoff this morning on it’s way to Algiers, Algeria. Flight control towers lost communications with the airliner for about an hour before learning that it had indeed crashed in Mali. 110 passengers and six crew were on board, 51 of them were French. The FAA does classify the area as potentially hostile, but French officials don’t believe fighters in Mali had the kind of weapons they would need to shoot down an airplane. Last contact with the plane came over Gao, Mali, a city that has seen recent attacks from Tuareg rebels and al Qaeda militants. According to the airport’s Facebook page, Fidel Castro’s niece Mariela was on board.