The French government on Friday said that 118 people had died in the Air Algerie crash in Mali, Western Africa, a little more than the figure of 116 who were initially presumed to be on board the flight.
French President Francois Hollande also said that 54 French nationals had been killed, revising the earlier figure cited as 51.
However, Air Algerie and private Spanish airline Swiftair, which was operating Flight 5017, had earlier said that there were 116 people onboard the ill-fated flight that crashed on Thursday.
The MD-83 aircraft was flying from Burkina Faso to Algeria, and the pilot had sent his final message to the Niger air control authorities to change its route because of heavy rain. While weather is suspected to have been the main cause of the accident, terrorism is not being ruled out as northern Mali is considered to be a restive region. French forces had intervened in northern Mali in January 2013 to clamp down on Islamist extremists controlling the region.
Such was the impact of the crash that the plane disintegrated and the debris was found scattered across a 500-metre region.
