The Air Algerie flight that crashed in the Sahara after taking off from Burkina Faso in west Africa met its fate due to a severe storm, investigators speculate.

The ill-fated Flight AH5017 was on its way to the Algerian capital Algiers with 116 passengers and crew when it plummeted 30,000 feet from the sky and crashed in the desert near Mali's border with Burkina Faso last Thursday, investigators told The Independent. 

Investigators also believe the crew, from the Spanish company Swiftair which owned the plane, was not experienced enough to deal with the weather conditions the aircraft came across, The Independent reported. The crew had only a month's worth of flying experience at the time of the crash.

Niger air control received a message from the plane not long after it took off last Wednesday night requesting to switch routes due to heavy rainfall.

Radar data from the flight's course show the pilot attempted to fly around the storm but did not leave enough time before he turned the plane back to its original path, General Gilbert Diendere, head of the Burkina Faso armed forces, told The Independent.

"It was while he was performing this maneuverer that the accident happened," the general said.

Swiftair lost contact with the plane about 50 minutes after it took off from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

"It seems the pilot reacted to the storm too late...An aircraft needs 10 to 15 kilometers to turn. If it gets too close to the storm, it can be too late to turn around. You get trapped in the air currents rushing up and down," Diendere told Le Figaro, according to the newspaper.

At the time of the crash rumors circulated that terrorism could have been the cause, however radar data has ruled out that possibility, the newspaper reported. Other possible causes, including mechanical failure, are still being investigated.

Officials also confirmed on Friday the number of victims is 116 and not 118 like previously reported. Two passengers that were supposed to board the plane were never on it, Reuters reported.

Those passengers are to be questioned as part of the investigation, Diendere said.