At least 60 people were killed when a passenger plane crashed onto a busy market district after taking-off at Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo today, a Congolese Red Cross official said.
"At this point there are around 60 people dead who were in the plane," a Congolese Red Cross official said, adding that there were likely to be more casualties on the ground.
A witness in Goma, the capital of eastern North Kivu province, said the Boeing 727 came down on a busy market street.
"Half of the plane has broken off. There is a fire towards the back. People are coming with buckets of water to put out the fire. The U.N. is here trying to keep back the crowds," the witness said.
"It destroyed a building. The two buildings next door are blackened," she added.
Democratic Republic of Congo, a vast country the size of western Europe with only a few hundred kilometres of paved roads, has one of the world's worst aviation safety records.
There were eight plane crashes in the country last year, including one in the capital Kinshasa in which an Antonov 26 plunged into a crowded neighbourhood, killing more than 50 people.