Namibian officials searching for a missing Mozambique Airlines plane have located the wreckage but found no survivors. Most of the 27 passengers were Mozambicans and Angolans flying from Maputo to Luanda.
The Namibian newspaper and Reuters news agency reported a senior Namibian police official on Saturday as saying the plane had been located in a remote wildlife park in the narrow strip of the country which lies between Botswana and Angola.
"The plane has been completely burned to ashes and there are no survivors," Reuters reported Bampton as saying.
Earlier The Namibian reported that Bampton said the area was difficult to access. "There are no proper roads, you have to go through the bush, slowly and its making our job difficult."
The Bwabwata National Park, lies in the Caprivi Strip. It comprises deciduous woodlands and covers an area of 6,100 square kilometres, extending about 180km from the Kavango River in the west to the Kwando River in the east.
Bampton said officials in Botswana reported on Friday that they had heard explosions and seen smoke in the air on Friday afternoon.
Mozambique Airlines said in a news release on Saturday that the 27 passengers comprised 10 Mozambicans, 9 Angolans, 5 Portuguese citizens and one citizen from each of France, Brazil and China. The airline reported on Friday that there were also six crew on board the aircraft.
On Friday the airline had reported there were 28 passengers. It said the flight, number TM 470, had left Maputo at 11.26 AM on Friday and had been scheduled to land at the Angolan capital, Luanda, at 2.10 pm local time.
Update: In a statement released late Saturday afternoon, Maputo time, the airline said it had no information on the circumstances of the accident. A response team has been sent to Namibia to help investigate the crash.
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"We cannot speculate on possible causes as the investigators must be given the time and space to do their work without interference or prejudice," the airline said.
The statement added that the six crew comprised two pilots, three cabin attendants and a technician.
"At this time, our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of the passengers and crew who were on board the aircraft," the airline said.
It has established family assistance centres at Maputo and Luanda airports to support families. There is a toll-free hotline number: +258 21 468 778/9.
The airline said the aircraft was an Embraer 190, registration C9-EMC.
"The 93-seat aircraft was manufactured in 2012 and was powered by by two General Electric CF34-10 turbofan engines. Since entering service... on 17 November 2012, the aircraft had logged 2 905 flights hours in 1 877 flights," the statement said.
This report has been updated since first published.
