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Plane with 55 aboard crashes

MALABO (EQUATORIAL GUINEA): A Russian-made passenger plane that disappeared from radar shortly after takeoff in Equatorial Guinea has crashed with an estimated 55 persons aboard, but the passengers' fate was unclear, officials said. Military helicopters flew over the wreckage of the Antonov 32 deep in the forest 30 km south of the capital, Malabo, from where the plane took off mid-morning on Saturday heading to the southern city of Bata, Transport Minister Bametreo Elo Mbong said. Investigators were travelling to the remote spot on Sunday to search for survivors among the estimated 55 persons aboard the plane owned by the Equatorial Guinea-registered company Equatair, he said. Mr. Mbong said the exact number of persons on board was not known. Flight manifests can often be incomplete in many of Africa's poorest countries, where planes are frequently rickety, Cold War-era castoffs from former Soviet republics. Equatorial Guinea's capital is on an island off the coast of Cameroon, while many of the other principal cities such as Bata are further south on the West African mainland. — AP

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