A military plane bound for the island of Annobon crashed off the coast of Equatorial Guinea earlier this week with at least 13 people on board, including eight local government officials, state-run radio said today. There were no survivors.
The plane, an Antonov 32, plunged into the ocean on Wednesday afternoon after missing the runway, the report said. The flight was ferrying passengers from Bata, the country's second-largest city, to the tiny island of Annobon some 700 kilometres from the mainland.
The number of people on board was unclear today. Witnesses at the airport said there were at least 80 people on the flight bound for Annobon. But radio reported 13 on board, and government officials said only 11 people were on the flight.
The local officials were heading back to Annobon to campaign ahead of next month's legislative and municipal elections, the report said.
Information Minister Santiago Nsobeya Efuman said six passengers and five crew members were on board. The radio later reported the bodies of two unregistered passengers.
A man who said he stopped to talk to passengers boarding the military plane before takeoff said that counted "over 30" people getting on the flight. He asked not to be named for fear of facing problems from contradicting the government.
{{/usCountry}}A man who said he stopped to talk to passengers boarding the military plane before takeoff said that counted "over 30" people getting on the flight. He asked not to be named for fear of facing problems from contradicting the government.
{{/usCountry}}An airport employee in Bata said "over 80" people eventually boarded the plane.