OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Two people originally believed to have travelled on an Air Algerie plane that crashed in Mali last week did not board the flight, reducing the official death toll to 116, a senior official in Burkina Faso said on Friday.

The McDonnell Douglas MD-83 operated by Spain's Swiftair on behalf of Air Algerie crashed last Thursday, shortly after taking off from Ouagadougou en route for Algiers.

General Gilbert Diendere, head of Burkina Faso's crisis agency, said that 118 names were on a passenger list drawn up by Air Algerie but two people did not board the flight.

One was a passenger who fell ill and cancelled their ticket before the flight and another was an Air Algerie agent who did not board.

Diendere said that the pair would be questioned as part of an investigation into the crash.

French officials believe bad weather was most likely to blame but they have not ruled out any explanation.