Plane bound for Senegal with 7 on board goes missing

A small plane evacuating a sick French woman to Senegal from Burkina Faso has gone missing with seven people on board, Senegalese and French authorities said Sunday.

Senegalese authorities said the crews of a ship and two planes were scouring an area off the Atlantic coast of Senegal for signs of the wreckage.

Magueye Maram, an official with the Senegalese Aviation Authority, said that the plane lost contact late Saturday. It disappeared from the radar when it was 111 kilometers (69 miles) west of Senegal's seaside capital, Dakar.

In addition to the patient, the plane was carrying a Senegalese doctor, two nurses and the three-person crew of the Senegalair-operated flight.

French diplomatic officials in Paris are in contact with the family of the patient, according to a French diplomatic official who spoke on condition of anonymity for lack of authorization to speak to journalists.

(AP)