Russian-built Plane Crashes in Angola, 48 on Board Feared DeadAbout 48 people are believed to have been killed when a Russian-built plane exploded and crashed in northeastern Angola, according to diplomats and news agency reports on Wednesday.Portugal's Lusa news agency said in a report from Luanda that 48 Russians had died in the crash late on Tuesday. But a Foreign Ministry source in Moscow said no Russian nationals were aboard the plane which is reported to have exploded over northern Angola. "According to the latest information, there were no Russians aboard and the crew was Ukrainian. The plane was Russian made, but it belonged to an Angolan company," the source said. An official of Angola's civil aviation authority told Reuters there had been an accident in the north of the country which was being investigated, but said he could not confirm any details. A spokesman for the local operating company, Guicango, was quoted by Lusa as saying that an aircraft carrying 42 passengers and six crew exploded in the air on Tuesday night near the northern Angolan town of Saurimo, 700 km (450 miles) east of Luanda. The accident occurred about 50 km (30 miles) from Saurimo, capital of Lunda Sul province in the former Portuguese colony which is sunk in a decades-old civil war. |
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