A CARGO plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near the international airport in Abidjan, killing four crew members and injuring six others.
Ten people were aboard the plane that was approaching from the capital of neighboring Burkina Faso, Lt. Issa Sakho, commander of the military fire brigade, said.The wreckage of a cargo plane after it crashed in the sea near the international airport in Ivory Coast's main city, Abidjan The dead were four Moldovans, he said, adding that two Moldovans and four French crew members were injured.The crash occurred during a storm with heavy rain and lightning and rescuers were hampered by rough seas.
Hundreds of onlookers gathered at the beach Saturday as rescue workers ran to the scene.
fHe gave his name only as Lt. Villain, citing French protocol.Earlier reports indicated the plane had taken off from Abidjan."The aircraft failed to land and crashed in the water... Firefighters and security forces are on the scene," said police commissioner Charlemagne Bleu.Though Abidjan's airport is located in a heavily populated area, it did not appear there were any victims on the ground.Ange Koutaye Ismael, a 19-year-old student, told The Associated Press he saw the four bodies carried out of the airplane, which had been broken in two in the shallow waters.
Ismael said he was at home Saturday morning when he noticed a plane flying low over his neighborhood. When he heard a plane had crashed on the beaCh, he ran down to film it.
Stormy weather likely played a role in the crash, he said.
"There was winds yesterday and I saw how planes seemed to have difficulties in getting up," he said.The plane wreckage, broken into pieces, was scattered in the shallow waters.
The name of the company operating the aircraft was not immediately known.
Koaci reports the cargo plane belonged to a company that was carrying material for the French army.
The aircraft crashed taking off from Felix Houphout Boigny airport around 9am local time.The airport in Abidjan, a city of around 5 million people, is a busy regional transportation hub.
It is also used by the French military which operates a logistics base there in support of an anti-Islamist militant operation in West Africa's Sahel region.
In February 2000, a Kenya Airways Airbus 310 carrying 179 people destined for Lagos, Nigeria crashed into the ocean after takeoff from Abidjan, leaving only 10 survivors.
