Dozens feared dead as Congolese army plane crashes near Kinshasa

A military transport plane belonging to the Congolese army crashed near Kinshasa on Saturday, killing "several dozen" people, military and airport sources said.

The Antonov transport plane had just taken off and had "several dozen people" on board, an airport source told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. 

"There was a crash of a cargo plane. It's a military plane," George Tabora, the director of Kinshasa's N'djili Airport, said. "It wasn't transporting passengers. The crew did not survive the crash."

An agent at Congo's aviation agency, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the plane was an Antonov 12 destined for the eastern city of Bukavu.

He added that the aircraft failed to take off properly from N'djili and crashed into the surrounding neighbourhood of Nsele, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) to the east of Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

It was not immediately clear if anyone was killed or injured on the ground.

The plane, which had a Russian crew, was carrying "two vehicles and weapons" and military personnel, a source at the army's headquarters told AFP, also speaking on condition of anonymity. 

He said there were "between 20 and 30 people" on board when it took off from the airport in Kinshasa. 

A witness at the crash site told AFP he had seen the plane "falling" out the sky shortly before 9:00 am but said there was no sign of any smoke coming from the aircraft.

Air accidents are relatively frequent in Congo due to lax safety standards. All Congolese commercial carriers are banned from operating in the European Union.