Post date: Dec 01, 2013 5:20:37 PM
Namibia (Next Media) - A Mozambique Airlines plane en route to Angola crashed on Friday in northeast Namibia, killing all people on board.
According to reports, flight TM470, with 33 people on board, took off from Mozambique's capital,Maputo, at 11:26 a.m. and was due to arrive in the Angolan capital, Luanda, at 2:10 p.m.
The last contact with the plane was made while it was over northern Namibia.Mozambican officials said there was bad weather and poor visibility at the time the plane went missing.
The plane crashed in the dense bush of Bwabwata National Park and completely burned to ashes, leaving no survivors.
The wreckage was found by rescue workers on Saturday.
According to Reuters, “A Bwabwata game ranger at the scene said the plane's black boxes, including the voice recorder, had been located and taken by investigators.”
"The bodies are scattered all over the place. It's a horrible sight," said the ranger, who identified himself only by his surname, Shinonge.
According to the BBC, authorities said most of those on board were Mozambican and Angolan, and several more were Portuguese.
The aircraft also carried one citizen from Brazil, one from China and one from France.
Initially,Mozambique Airlines thought the aircraft landed near Rundu. But on Saturday villagers in the area heard an explosion and Botswana officials said they saw smoke in the air and the wreckage right on the other side of the border, Namibia Police Force deputy commissioner Willy Bampton was quoted by the BBC as saying.
The plane was delivered to Mozambique Airlines by Brazil’s Embraer SA in November 2012. The company sent its own technicians to the crash site, Reuters reported.
The remote, 6,100 sq km (2,300 sq mile) Bwabwata National Park is home to wildlife including elephants, lions and wild dogs.
SOURCES: BBC, Reuters
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25165682
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/30/us-mozambique-flight-idUSBRE9AT02920131130