Angola: Huambo air force plane crash kills generals

  14 September 2011 Last updated at 19:05 GMT

A plane crash in Angola has killed 26 people, including three army generals, a government official has told the BBC.

Luis Caetano, the spokesman for the Huambo provincial authorities, said the military aircraft crashed after leaving Huambo city airport.
He said six people had survived the crash, including the pilot and co-pilot.
Correspondents say the aircraft was a relatively new Embraer jet purchased by the army to transport top officials.

Wreckage split Initial reports said that there were 36 passengers on board, but Mr Caetano told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme the number was 32.

Angola has one of Africa's largest armies and air forces

He said the aeroplane divided when it crashed and 26 bodies - 20 men and six women - had been recovered from wreckage.
People in the front of the aircraft survived, but those passengers in the back died as that section caught fire, he said.
One of the survivors has suffered bad burns and was being treated in hospital, Mr Caetano said.
Angola state-run Angop news agency named two of the dead as Lt Gen Bernardo Leitao Francisco Diogo, known by his civil war name "Lelo Kizua", and Lt Gen Elias Malungo Bravo da Costa Pedro, known as "Kalias".
Mr Caetano said the pilot, who had spoken to Angolan TV, seemed confused but insisted that he had complied with all instructions from the control tower.
Portugal's Sol newspaper quoted a survivor in hospital as saying that the accident happened so fast it was difficult to know what the problem was, but the pilot seemed to be aware that there was a technical fault.
Portuguese news agency Lusa said the accident happened at about midday local time (11:00 GMT).
The plane, bound for the capital, Luanda, took off from Huambo's Albano Machado airport, which was only re-opened by the president last month after undergoing renovations.
Since 2002, Angola has been striving to tackle the legacy of a 27-year civil war that ravaged the country after independence.
It is one of Africa's major oil producers, but two thirds of the people remain in poverty.
According to Jane's Intelligence and Analysis, a digest of military information, Angola has the largest standing army in central and southern Africa and one of the largest air forces in sub-Saharan Africa.