At least 40 people, including passengers and crew, were killed when an Antonov-24 crashed shortly after takeoff Wednesday in the Angolan capital Luanda, an air force source said.
The plane spun out of control and smoke could be seen on one of the engines, witnesses on the ground told AFP.
Angolan civil aviation authorities confirmed the crash.
The Russian-built plane, which was also carrying cargo, was headed for Angola's Namibe Province on the southwestern coast.
It crashed in an uninhabited area near a refugee camp just south of the capital, the air force said.
The Angolan Pilots Association (ASPA) asked the authorities to suspend all Antonov flights in the country.
On October 31 an Antonov-26 crash killed 48 people in eastern Lunda Sul Province.
The government army dismissed a claim by the rebel National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) to have shot down the plane -- LUANDA (AFP)
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