Mozambique Airlines carrying 34 missing in Namibia, search underway

A Mozambique Airlines flight carrying 34 people en route to Angola has gone missing over northeast Namibia and authorities were searching a game park on Saturday for signs of the plane.

Flight TM 470 from Maputo was bound on Friday for the Angolan capital of Luanda with 28 passengers and six crew members on board when it lost contact with air traffic controllers, the airline said in a statement.

Namibian Police Force Deputy Commissioner Willy Bampton told the Namibia Press Agency on Saturday that police were searching for the plane in the Bwabwata National Park in the Kavango East region.

"We are trying to locate the plane, but so far we found nothing," the agency quoted him as saying.

Mozambican media - which quoted transport ministry officials as saying the plane was an Embraer SA 190 - said heavy rains had been reported in the region when contact was lost.

The flight left the Mozambican capital of Maputo at 1126 (0926 GMT) on Friday and was due to arrive in Luanda at 1400 local time.  

 

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