Mozambique plane crashes in Namibia, no survivors

The missing plane of Mozambique Airlines is confirmed to have crashed in northeast Namibia and all passengers on board were killed, local police said on Saturday. The airline said the Brazilian-made Embraer 190 did not land as scheduled at 1310 GMT in the Angolan capital Luanda, after it took off from Maputo at 0926 GMT. Namibian Police Deputy Commissioner of the Zambezi Region, Bollen Sankwasa confirmed to Namibia Press Agency on Saturday that the plane crashed in the Bwabwata National Park, and sadly there were no survivors. The airline said earlier that there were 28 passengers and 6 crew. According to information provided by the firm to Chinese Embassy in Mozambique, one Chinese national was on board along with 10 Mozambicans, nine Angolans, five Portuguese, one French and one Brazilian. Chief Executive office of the airline Marlene Mendes Manave told a press conference in Maputo that the aircraft last contacted the ground aviation tower in Namibia at 1:15 p.m. Friday before it went missing. A Namibian journalist told Xinhua that the passenger aircraft crashed in Bwabwata national park in Zambezi region of northeastern Namibia between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. local time on Friday and no survivor could be seen. Local media said the plane burned to ashes. Xinhua learned from a local witness who was on the scene on Saturday that the place was very remote and uninhabited, and police had to use helicopters to locate the crash. Bodies were "all over the place," and signs of deterioration can be seen on them because of the heat of the sun, according to the witness. A local police commissioner, who is on the way to the crash site, can not be reached by phone. However, police will brief the media about the crash later Saturday, according to a journalist based in northern Namibia. The airline, of which the state has a controlling state, has a small fleet composed of mainly Brazilian-made aircraft. The crashed Embraer 190 aircraft can accommodate up to 93 passengers. The Mozambique Airlines operates international routes to South Africa, Tanzania, Angola, Zimbabwe and Kenya. The European Union has banned the airline from flying into Europe airspace out of safety concerns despite its clean safety record before Friday's crash.