126 survive plane crash

A hundred and twenty-six people escaped unharmed after their aircraft ditched into a swamp as it tried to take off from Sierra Leone's capital Freetown, officials said yesterday.

The Air Guinea Boeing 737 had just left the ground at Lungi airport on Wednesday when it lurched into a swamp five kilometres from the runway, leaving one wing partly submerged in mud.

"A combined team of airport fire and security services quickly moved to the scene and helped to save the passengers and crew," said airport spokesman Mohamed Swarray.

Sierra Leone's civil aviation authority and the carrier which owned the plane said the cause of the crash was not yet known. Hospital officials said about 50 of the passengers were treated for shock and minor injuries.

"There were no deaths or injuries but the aircraft was seriously damaged. We don't know the cause as yet," said Aboubacar Sidiki Camara, the airline's director of operations.