LUANDA (AFP) — Between 13 and 25 people died in a plane crash in the mountains near Angola's second city Huambo on Saturday, conflicting reports said.
A local government official at the scene told AFP that 25 bodies had been retrieved from the wreckage, but civil aviation officials put the number at 13.
"I can confirm that there was a plane crash and we counted at least 25 bodies," the Huambo provincial government official told AFP by telephone. "As far as we are concerned there were no survivors," he added.
But state radio RNA later quoted the country's Civil Aviation Institute as saying that 13 people, all of whom were on board, died in the accident.
"Thirteen people on board...died when the aircraft attempted to land," the report on radio said.
Among the dead are two Portuguese nationals and the owner of the plane, Valentin Anoes, who is also a senior member of Angola's ruling party, according to his family.
"Yes, my uncle was flying in that plane going to Huambo for business purposes," a person who identified himself as Anoes's nephew told AFP by telephone.
"We just got the news that the plane crashed and my uncle and everybody else in it died," the nephew added.
"The family is very much in distress. We lost my uncle and my cousin," he said referring to Anoes' son whose name was not given.
The King Air B200 airplane belonged to private company Gira Globo, owned by Anoes, which operates chartered flights in Angola.
Lusa new agency reported that the aircraft left Luanda, the capital city, at about 0600 GMT and was headed for Huambo city, about 450 kilometres (280 miles) south-east of the capital, when the accident happened.
The news agency quoted the director of Angola's national aviation centre, Celso Rosas, as saying that he did not know if there were any survivors.
RNA report added that the plane was attempting to land when it crashed before it burst into flames.
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