OUAGADOUGOU, July 24  -- About 50 French citizens are onboard a missing Air Algerie plane en route from Burkina Faso to Algiers, a representative of the airline told a news conference in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.

The plane vanished over the Malian region of Gao, some 500 km southern of the Algerian border, Algerie Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal told reporters on the sidelines of a parliament session.

An updated statement from Air Algerie said there were 112 passengers and seven crew members on the missing plane, according to Algeria's state-run APS news agency.

Air Algerie also confirmed that the missing aircraft was chartered from the Spanish Swiftair company.

Algeria witnessed more than ten plane crashes since its independence in 1962. The deadliest crash occurred in March 2003, where 97 passengers died and one survived when an Air Algerie plane crashed moments after taking off from Tamenrasset airport.