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A flight operated by Air Algerie traveling from Ougadougou in the west African nation of Burkina Faso to Algiers, Algeria, has crashed in the neighboring country of Mali, officials confirmed.

The airline sent out a tweet about eight hours after the flight was first reported as having disappeared off radar screens.

FLASH INFOS : AH5017 L'avion se serait crashé à Tilemsi. L'avion se serait crashé dans la région de Tilemsi, à 70km de Gao.

— Air Algérie (@Air_Algerie) July 24, 2014

Loosely translated, the tweet read: "The plane would have crashed in the area of Tilemsi, 70km from Gao."

The plane’s owner, Spain-based Swiftair, said earlier today that Flight 5017 carrying 110 passengers, four crew and two pilots went missing at approximately 10 p.m. EDT on Wednesday night, meaning it has likely been missing for hours before the news was made public this morning.

The APS News Agency quoted Air Algerie as saying "In keeping with procedures, Air Algerie has launched its emergency plan.” It is not known what that emergency plan is.

A flight path wasn’t immediately known but a French news agency reported the MD-83 flew over the nation of Mali, which has seen civil unrest and is on the U.S. State Dept.’s list of nations issued a travel warning to American citizens.

However, most military and weapons experts do not believe rebels in Mali have the hardware or sophistication to shoot down a plane as pro-Russian separatists did in Ukraine last week, using a surface-to-air missile to take down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, killing all 295 aboard.

In March, a Malaysia Airlines flight traveling from Kuala Lumpur from Beijing disappeared and still has yet to be found.

More on this story as it develops.