33 feared dead as Mozambique Airlines plane crashes in Namibia

A Mozambique Airlines plane carrying 33 people crashed in a remote border area, killing all on board, Namibian media reported Saturday.

The plane crashed in a Namibian national park near the border with Angola and there were no survivors, said Namibian deputy police commissioner Bollen Sankwasa, according to The Namibia Press Agency. An investigation of the cause was underway.

The plane was carrying 27 passengers, including 10 Mozambicans, 9 Angolans, 5 Portuguese, and one citizen each from France, Brazil and China, said the airline. Six crew members were on board.

Flight TM470 from Maputo, the Mozambican capital, did not land as scheduled in Luanda, the Angolan capital, on Friday afternoon, and the airline initially said the plane might have landed in Rundu, in northern Namibia. It said it coordinated with aviation authorities in Namibia, Botswana and Angola to locate the missing plane.

A Namibian police helicopter joined officers on the ground in the search. The area is vast, is a desert and there are no roads, making it difficult to locate the plane, said police official Willy Bampton, according to the Namibian Press Agency.

The search was conducted in the Bwabwata National Park in northeastern Namibia. Several thousand people as well as elephants, buffalo and other wildlife live in the park, which covers 6112 square kilometers (2,360 square miles).

Mozambique Airlines uses a mix of Boeing, Bombardier and Embraer aircraft. According to CEO Marlene Mendes Manave, the carrier grew 8 percent in the first half of this year, compared to the same period in 2012.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press