Flight AH 5017: Raul Castro's Daughter Mariela Was Not On Board Air Algerie Plane Crash

An airline flight for Air Algérie disappeared from radar control earlier this morning. The plane carrying 116 passengers was travelling from Burkina Faso to the capital of Algeria, according to a spokesmen reported empresa. Rumors emerged that Raul Castro's daughter, Mariela was onboard the flight. However, news agency Telesur has denied the rumors about Mariela being on the flight via their Twitter account.

Burkina Faso Airport initiated the rumor when they published the news of the death of the daughter of the Cuban president on their website, which created a lot of media confusion. However, minutes later Mariela connected with Telesur and said: "I'm alive and well, happy and healthy (...) I honestly do not understand what the show is about." Mariela was born in Havana on July 27, 1962. She is a psychologist and sexologist and is also a renowned activist for gay rights.

Flight AH5017, leased by Swiftair, crashed today at the airport in Burkina Faso. The MD83 aircraft, operated by Air Algerie, took off bound for Algiers. According to a report published by Swiftair list the plane were carrying six passengers from Algeria, one of Mali, one from Belgium, two from Luxembourg, 5 Canadian, 24 from Burkina Faso, 50 from Fance, four from Germany, one from Nigeria, one from Cameroon, 8 from Lebanon, and one from Egypt, among others.