Death toll in Mali plane crash revised to 116 – official

AFTERMATH. A French soldier and a journalist look at debris of the Air Algerie Flight AH 5017 scattered at the crash site in Mali's Gossi region, west of Gao, on July 26, 2014. File photo by Sia Kambou / AFP

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso – The death toll in the crash of an Air Algerie flight in Mali last week has been revised down to 116 after it was discovered that two people thought to be on the plane were not, officials in Ouagadougou said.

"The toll is 116 victims and not 118" as previously announced by the French authorities, said General Gilbert Diendiere, advisor to Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore. (READ: Experts to begin probe into Air Algerie crash)

One of the two was an airline staff member whose name was in the list of passengers but who was not on the flight, Diendiere told Agence France-Presse. (READ: Air Algerie crash wipes out entire families)

The second person had cancelled the booking the day before the flight but the change was not made to the list of passengers, he said.

Flight AH5017, which took off in the early hours of July 24 from Ouagadougou bound for Algiers, went missing amid reports of heavy storms. The wreckage of the plane was found in northern Mali. – Rappler.com