A humanitarian plane carrying 17 passengers and crew that went missing in Democratic Republic of Congo has crashed into a mountain and all aboard are feared dead, the flight contractor said.

A copy of the passenger manifest seen by Reuters showed that six foreigners were aboard, from France, India, Canada, Congo Republic, South Africa and Britain, the last two of them pilots.

The remaining 11 passengers were listed in the manifest as citizens of Democratic Republic of Congo. Rescue helicopters spotted the wreckage early yesterday of the 19-seat Beechcraft aircraft, contracted by Air Serv International, around 15 kilometres northwest of the town of Bukavu, on Congo's eastern border with Rwanda.

"The aircraft has been found on a steep ridge," Air Serv International said in a statement posted on its website.

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