UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said late November 12 that all 24 people aboard a UN- chartered plane that crashed in Kosovo were killed.

"None of the people on board are believed to have survived," the spokesman said.

The twin turbo-propelled ATR-42 had been chartered by the UN World Food Program (WFP) to fly to Pristina, capital of the Yugoslav province, from Rome, the seat of the WFP headquarters.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who is on a visit to Asia, issued a statement through Eckhard, saying that he was "shocked and deeply saddened by the news of the crash."

A French Gazelle helicopter using night-vision equipment spotted the wreckage on Friday and the discovery was then confirmed by a French Puma helicopter, the international peacekeepers said in Kosovo.

Two British aid workers were aboard the plane, which crashed in the mountainous area in northern Kosovo, said reports from London.

Teams of explosive disposal experts and medical personnel were immediately sent to the crash site, commanded by the French contingent in the international peacekeeping force in Kosovo. The head of the United Nations Interim Administrative Mission in Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner of France, also left for the scene, reports said.

The wreckage of the plane was spotted some 15 kilometers of the northern city of Mitrovica on a steep mountainside, the peacekeepers said.