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Spanish Investigators Arrive in Mali to Probe Air Algérie Crash Site Plane

Madrid, Spain – 26/07/2014 – as published by The Wall Street Journal

Operated by Swiftair SA, Crashed Thursday, Killing All 118 Aboard

A team of Spanish civil and forensic aviation experts arrived in Bamako, Mali, on Saturday to investigate the crash of Air Algérie Flight 5017, Spain’s government said.

The plane, operated by Swiftair SA, a Spanish charter company, crashed on Thursday, killing all 118 people aboard, including two pilots and four crew members, all Spaniards. The cause of the crash is still unknown.

Spanish state-owned news agency EFE said Friday the pilots were Agustín Comerón Mogio and Isabel Gost Caimari, both from Mallorca in the Balearic Islands. On Saturday, Swiftair confirmed the identities of the pilots and the crew.

The pilot, Agustín Comerón, who lived in the province of Marratxi in Mallorca, was 48 years old and had moved to the island 10 years ago, according to EFE. The pilot, who has two children, used to work for the now-defunct Spanish airline Spanair.

“I still have faith and trust that our neighbor is alive and everything is a nightmare,” Tomeu Oliver, mayor of Marratxí, had told EFE on Thursday after he heard about the crash, which occurred during a storm.

The copilot, Isabel Gost, wasn’t married. She had also been laid off from Spanair when the company went bankrupt in 2012.