Plane crashes in east Congo city

More than 70 people were killed when a Congolese domestic airliner taking off from the eastern city of Goma crashed into a crowded market district and caught fire, witnesses and officials said.

At least six people on board - including the two pilots and two children - survived the crash of the Hewa Bora Airways passenger jet in Goma, capital of Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern North Kivu province, the local governor said.

It was believed other survivors may also have been pulled out.

More than 45 people were injured in the crash, the latest aviation disaster to hit Congo, a vast central African state the size of western Europe which is still recovering from a war and has one of the world's worst air safety records.

The Hewa Bora McDonnell Douglas DC-9 was taking off on a flight to the Congolese capital Kinshasa when it slewed into the teeming market district of Birere, a warren of single-storey shops and stalls which were crowded at that time of day. Officials had first identified the aircraft as a Boeing 727.