(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-10-04 22:06

KINSHASA, Congo - A cargo plane crashed in a residential neighborhood near the main airport in Congo's capital of Kinshasa on Thursday, killing at least five people, police said.

A Ukrainian built Antonov 26 similar to that which crashed into a market area of Congo's capital city Kinshasa Thursday morning Oct. 4, 2007, is seen in this undated photo in Kiev. [Agencies]

Several destroyed houses in the Kingasani neighborhood were ablaze after the crash, and smoke filled the sky. Police commander Alexis Dekikobo said he had seen five bodies in the rubble - four adults and one baby.

A Russian media report said all aboard the An-26 were killed, although it gave no numbers.

The plane crashed into a market area of the neighborhood around 10:30 am, said airport officer Appo Ilunga.

A witness reached by phone said the area was full of smoke and it was hard to tell if there had been deaths or injuries. The witness, Papy Kangufu, said the market was full of people when the plane crashed.

Ilunga said the plane had just taken off from the airport en route to central Congo. Kingasani is about three miles from the Kinshasa airport.

Cargo planes in Congo are frequently flown by experienced pilots from former Soviet states but the aircraft are often old, ill-maintained and overcrowded.

Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency reported that the plane, which belonged to Congolese carrier Africa 1, had a Russian crew. "According to early reports, all people on board were killed. There are also casualties among people at the market," it said.

UN-funded Radio Okapi cited witnesses in the area as saying the plane damaged 10 houses on three streets. The aircraft was headed to Chicapa in the province of Kasai Occidental, the radio said.

In August, the government suspended the licenses of a number of private local airlines and suspended the national director of civil aviation after an An-12 carrying 3 tons over the recommended capacity crashed in the eastern region of Katanga, killing 14 people.

Some local airline companies operating in Congo flew during back-to-back wars that lasted from 1996 to 2002.

In 1996, an An-32 turboprop crashed seconds after takeoff from Kinshasa's main airport, skidding across a busy street and plowing into a crowded open-air market. The crash killed at least 300 people, one of the worst air accidents in Congo's history.

Few passable roads traverse Congo after decades of war and corrupt rule, forcing the country's deeply impoverished people to rely on often-unsafe boats and planes for transportation.