Sixty people were killed when a Russian-built Antonov plane crashed in flames in Equatorial Guinea shortly after takeoff from the capital Malabo, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema said.

In a radio message to the nation, Obiang declared a three-day period of national mourning following Saturday's crash which, he said, had killed mostly young Equatorial Guineans and women.

The plane, which went down on a domestic flight in thick jungle, "was completely destroyed, burned and there were no survivors," national radio announced earlier, playing somber music as it reported the news.

Thousands of distraught family and friends besieged Malabo airport and later the hospital after the confirmation of the crash.

"Our people are going through the worst moments of grief, consternation and sadness ever known in their history," Obiang declared.

"This tragedy affected many families to whom we send our condolences ... and our solidarity," the president continued.

At first the government had said a total of 55 people were on the ageing 48-seater Antonov-24, while the operating company, the private airline Ecuatair, said its records showed there were 35 passengers and 10 crew.

Airport sources said crews in the west African country are often bribed to take additional people on board.

The radio said many of the victims were Malabo college students going on holiday from the island of Bioko where the capital is situated to their homes in the continental part of the country.

The funerals of the 60 victims would take place on Monday, television said quoting official sources. A presidential decree said flags would be flown at half-mast during the mourning period, starting at midnight (23:00 GMT Sunday).

President Obiang called for an inquiry into the causes of the accident to "take eventual measures that would avoid similar events in future."

It took rescuers until Sunday to reach the crash site in a remote area some 30 kilometers (18 miles) from Malabo, as they had to skirt the 3,007-meter (9.923-foot) high Mount Basile which overlooks the capital and slog several hours through the jungle.

Bad weather, including nonstop rain, made the operation even more difficult.

Some of the remains of the dead, charred beyond recognition, were taken in plastic bags to the main hospital in Malabo.

Authorities quickly abandoned an impromptu identification process when after holding up the purse of a female victim, the crowd surged forward, prompting clashes with police.

It took the government some 24 hours to officially confirm the crash, and until Sunday afternoon to announce that no one had escaped with their lives.

"They didn't want to alarm people before they knew what had happened to the plane," a transport ministry official, who did not want to be named, said.

Officials have now have set up a crisis unit, including several government ministers, charged with overseeing the salvage operation, identifying the dead and reporting on developments.

An eyewitness said Saturday that he saw the aircraft go down shortly after takeoff at 10:00 AM (09:00 GMT) from Malabo for the city of Bata on the Equatorial Guinea mainland.

The wreckage was not located until eight hours later near the district of Baney, the government statement indicated.

The plane skidded over trees for a distance of about a kilometer (half a mile) before it crashed, according to aerial photographs, the statement added.

Ecuatair, which is among a handful of companies serving domestic routes in the west African country, has only one other plane, a Soviet-built Yak-40.

Most of the planes, piloted mainly by Russians, Ukrainians and Armenians, are Soviet-era aircraft that often no longer meet international flight standards and are not allowed to land at airports in other countries in the region.

Several international organizations ask their employees not to use the airlines.

In April Equatorial Guinea authorities grounded another local company, the Union de Transportes Aereo de Guinea Ecuatorial, for safety reasons after a series of technical breakdowns.

Equatorial Guinea, with a population of just over one million, is in the midst of an oil boom, and has seen double-digit growth since the mid-1990s.

(chinadaily.com via agencies July 18, 2005)