An Air Algerie plane carrying 116 people disappeared from radar shortly after takeoff late Wednesday night and then crashed in Mali, a French Ministry of Defense official told Fox News.

The plane took off from Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou at 9:17 p.m. ET. After about 50 minutes, navigation services lost contact with the plane, the official Algerian news agency said.

"I can confirm that it has crashed," an Algerian official told Reuters, declining to be identified or give any details about what had happened to the aircraft on its way north.

The plane was headed to Algiers, Algeria, which is directly south of Spain. Two French fighter jets have located the wreckage, the French Ministry of Defense official said.

The daughter of Cuban president Raul Castro and niece of Fidel Castro was reported to be on the plane. Ougadogou airport's website listed her (Mariela Castro) as a passenger, but that report hasn't been verified yet.

UPDATE: NBC reporter has personally seen Mariela Thursday morning, she was NOT on the plane.

Aboard the plane were 51 French, 27 Burkina Faso nationals, eight Lebanese, six Algerians, five Canadians, four Germans, two Luxembourg nationals, one Swiss, one Belgium, one Egyptian, one Ukranian, one Nigerian, one Cameroonian, and one Malian, Burkina Faso Transport Minister Jean Bertin Ouedraogo said. The crew members were Spanish, the Spanish pilots' union said.

The route of the plane is unknown, but the direction from Ouagadougou to Algiers is nearly a straight line. The plane would have passed over Mali. In northern Mali, tensions are growing and unrest continues.

During the flight, there was some heavy rains and the plane asked Niger air control to change its route, Ouedraogo said. That was the last message received from the airline.

A source told Sky News that the plane also asked to divert its route to "avoid another aircraft."

Burkina Faso authorities have set up a crisis unit at Ougadgou airport to help update families with passengers aboard the plane.

Aviation websites have said the plane, an MD-83, was 18 years old.