At least 23 killed in Congo plane crash

At least 23 people died when a Russian-made cargo plane crashed and exploded yesterday in a teeming neighbourhood of Kinshasa, the capital of Democratic Republic of Congo, officials said.

The aging Antonov 26 twin-propeller aircraft belonging to Congolese airline Africa One plunged onto houses in the Kingasani district shortly after taking off from nearby Ndjili international airport on an internal flight.

"There were five crew members and 13 passengers on the plane. Nobody escaped alive: They were all incinerated," Transport Minister Remy Henri Kuseyo told Reuters. At least three of the crew were Ukrainian, according to the plane's manifest.

The minister said at least two women and a man were killed on the ground when the plane ploughed into the crowded area and burst into flames.

A Reuters witness also saw one man discover the bodies of two of his children, a boy and girl, crushed by a wall, as distraught relatives poured over the blackened rubble.

With bodies still being recovered and the seriously injured being taken to hospitals across the sprawling riverside capital, the death toll appeared likely to rise.

Information Minister Toussaint Tshilombo said he had seen four residents being treated for third degree burns in the city's General Hospital. Another two infants were in intensive care, he said.

Smouldering debris from the crash was widely scattered over streets and buildings, and some houses were completely flattened. The stench of burning debris and jet fuel filled the air.

Rescue workers pulled at least six charred corpses from the wreckage of the plane as they joined family members picking through the devastation.

An airport security official who arrived quickly at the crash site said fire fighters had initially struggled to reach the wreckage in the shanty town. TV images showed scores of residents helping to carry red fire hoses.