No Survivors in W Africa Plane Crash

17/07/2005| IslamWeb

No one survived the crash of an Antonov plane in Equatorial Guinea that went down in flames shortly after take off from the capital with 55 people aboard, national radio has reported.

The plane, which crashed after leaving Malabo early on Saturday, "was completely destroyed, burned, and there were no survivors," the station announced.

It took rescuers until Sunday to reach the crash site in a remote area about 30km from Malabo, because they had to skirt the 3000m-high Mount Basile, which overlooks the capital of the West African state, and walk several hours through dense forest.

Rescuers had been able to recover some of the bodies, the radio station said, without stating how many.

According to the government, the Ecuatair plane, an aging Russian-built Antonov, had 55 people on board, though only 35 passengers and 10 crew were listed on the flight manifest. Several people apparently got on the plane without tickets, the government said, holding an airline employee responsible.

PHOTO CAPTION

File photo of a Russian made Antonov plane. (AFP)