Bamako/Paris, Ramadan 28, 1435, July 25, 2014, SPA -- All 118 people on board an Air Algerie plane that went down in eastern Mali this week are dead, French President Francois Hollande said Friday. The plane crashed in Gossi, near the Burkina Faso border. Images broadcast by the France 2 television station showed a crater, as well as debris, which had flown distances of up to 500 metres on dry and flat terrain. Neither the plane's main body nor the engine could be seen. French soldiers deployed at the site found the plane's black box, Hollande said after a crisis meeting at Elysee Palace in Paris. A French army spokesman in Mali said about 100 troops in 30 vehicles were involved in securing the crash site. French police experts were on their way to identify the victims. --SPA 22:55 LOCAL TIME 19:55 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w