The wreckage of a
Mozambique Airlines plane that disappeared over Namibia has been found, but
none of the 34 people aboard survived the crash, police say.
The
burned-out aircraft was found in the Bwabwata National Park, near the borders
with Angola and Botswana.
“The
plane has been completely burnt to ashes and there are no survivors,” Namibia
Police Force deputy commissioner Willy Bampton was quoted by Reuters as saying.
The plane
left Mozambique on Friday.
Flight
TM470 took off from the country’s capital, Maputo, at 11:26 (09:26 GMT) and was
due to arrive in the Angolan capital, Luanda, at 14:10.
The last
contact made with the plane was when it was over northern Namibia.
The
authorities say most of those on board were Mozambican or Angolan, and several
more were Portuguese. The aircraft also carried one citizen from each of
Brazil, China and France.
Initially, the airline said there were signs the aircraft might have landed
near Rundu.
But
yesterday, Mr Bampton said villagers in the area had heard an explosion.
“Botswana
officials informed us that they saw smoke in the air and they thought the crash
happened in their country, but when they came to the border they realised that
it was in Namibia,” Willie Bampton said.
The
Bwabwata National Park in Namibia’s Kavango East region - covering around
6,100sq km (2,355 square miles) - is a sparsely-populated area of dense
forests.
Source: Guardian
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