Medevac Plane With Seven Aboard Disappears West Of Senegal

Medical Evacuation (Medevac) Plane, Nov. 27, 2014 — A medical-evacuation plane with seven people aboard disappeared Saturday on its way to Dakar in Senegal from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso. Above, journalists check out a retrofitted Lufthansa plane commissioned by the German government and designed to serve as a medevac option for health workers who are in West Africa participating in the international effort to stem the spread of the deadly Ebola virus during a media presentation at Berlin Tegel Airport Nov. 27, 2014. Sean Gallup/Getty Images

A medical evacuation plane with seven people on board, including a French patient, disappeared west of Senegal during a flight from Burkina Faso to Dakar, the Senegalese civil aviation authority said.

The private Senegalair plane from Ouagadougou disappeared from radar screens at 7:08 p.m. (3:08 p.m. EDT) on Saturday 118 km (74 miles) west of the Senegalese capital, it said in a statement.

Senegal's armed forces were conducting a search, the statement added.

The plane was carrying three crew members and medical staff, including a doctor and two nurses. Nationalities of those on board included two Algerians and a citizen of Congo, although the aviation authority did not specify whether it referred to the Democratic Republic of Congo or Republic of Congo.

The plane, chartered by SOS Medicin Senegal, left Ouagadougou at 4.30 p.m., Burkina Faso's Minister of Transport, Daouda Traore, told Reuters. Ouagadougou is around 1,700 km (1,080 miles) southeast of Dakar.

(Reporting by Diadie Ba in Dakar and Nadoun Coulibaly in Ouagadougou; Writing Matthew Mpoke Bigg; Editing by Clelia Oziel)

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