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Antonov crashes in Eq. Guinea; 55 aboard killed.
Reuters
MALABO (Reuters) - A Russian-made plane carrying 55 people crashed shortly after takeoff in Equatorial Guinea on Saturday and those on board were all feared dead, government officials said.
The Antonov 32 plane, owned by local company Equatair, was on an internal flight between the capital Malabo on Bioko island and the city of Bata on the mainland.
"The plane crashed near Baney, 17 kilometers (10 miles) from Malabo," Ricardo Mangue Obama, a deputy prime minister in charge of the government task force investigating the crash, told Reuters by telephone.
"We don't know the cause of the accident. We can't confirm any death toll but clearly it was a serious accident and we have no information on any survivors so far," he said.
Mangue Obama said the 55 on board included six members of the crew. Local media reports said as many as 80 people could have been on the plane but there was no confirmation of that.
The transport minister told state television the airline had made the manifest available to authorities and that military aircraft searching for the plane had located it near Baney. A team of investigators would be dispatched to the site on Sunday.
The plane left Malabo around 1000 GMT on Saturday but disappeared off the radar screen shortly afterwards.
Throughout the day, relatives of the passengers waited at the airport to know about the fate of their loved ones at the airport, but official information was scant and only in the evening authorities confirmed that the plane had crashed.
Condolences to all relatives !