(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — The missing Air Algerie plane crashed on Thursday enroute from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso to Algiers on Thursday with 110 passengers onboard. According to sources, 19 of its passengers were Lebanese, including three couples with 10 children.
Three of the Lebanese passengers were identified as Joseph Hajj and Fadi Rustom from Aintoura and Omar Ballan from Ghazir. Rustom and Hajj own businesses in Africa.
A source close to Air Algerie officials said families from south Lebanon were also onboard the plane, including Randa Bassma Daher and her three children, Ali, Salah, and Shaymaa. They were reportedly coming during the Eid al-Fitr break, according to the Daily Star.
Lebanon is expected to announce a day of national mourning for the 19 victims who died in the crash.
Officials say there are no more than a thousand Lebanese living in the Burkina Faso capital, Ouagadougou, adding that Algiers was a transit point for Lebanese flying home to Beirut.
Almost half of the passengers were French citizens, an airline official said.