The video, aired on France 2 television, was filmed by soldiers from Burkina Faso from where flight AH5017 took off early Thursday morning before disappearing from radar screens.

The grainy footage shows bits of the fuselage scattered over a large, sandy-looking terrain of dry shrubs, which is blackened in some areas.

Such was the violence of the apparent impact, that the debris seen on the video was barely recognisable as parts of an aircraft. A soldier is seen taking photos of the remains of the wreck.