Air Algerie Swiftair MD-83 ‘may have been struck by lightning’

The Air Algerie flight MD-83, which crashed on the outskirts of Mali with 116 people on board, may have been struck by lightning according to shepherds who saw it come down.

Air navigation services lost track of the Algeria-bound Swiftair MD-83 plane over eastern Mali about 50 minutes after it took off from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso’s capital.

The plane’s wreckage has been found near the village of Boulikessi on the Mali-Burkina Faso border, confirming the world’s third major aviation disaster in one week, which has sent shock waves through out the world on the safety of air travel.

French fighter jets, U.N. peacekeepers and others have begun the hunt for the wreckage of the MD-83 aircraft in the remote region; scattered separatists’ violence may, however, hamper an eventual investigation into the incident.