An Air Algerie flight that went missing en route from Burkina Faso to Algiers has crashed, an Algerian aviation official told Reuters on Thursday.

"I can confirm that it has crashed," the official said, declining to give details of where the plane was or what caused the accident.

There are few clear indications of what might of happened to the aircraft, or whether there are casualties, but Burkino Faso Transport Minister Jean Bertin Ouedrago said it asked to change route at 0138 GMT because of a storm in the area.

The plane was travelling from Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou to the Algerian capital Algiers when it vanished around 50 minutes into the flight.

Air Algerie has tweeted the nationalities of those on board.

The airline says 50 passengers were French, 4 from Burkina Faso, 8 Lebanese, 6 Algerians, 5 Canadians, 4 German, 2 from Luxembourg and 1 from Mali.

There was also 1 Nigerian, one from Cameroon, 1 Belgian, 1 Ukrainian, 1 Romanian and 1 Swiss passenger.