The wreckage of a Mozambique
Airlines plane that disappeared over Namibia has been found, but none of the 34
people aboard survived the crash, police say.
The burned-out aircraft was found in the Bwabwata National
Park, near the borders with Angola and Botswana.
"The plane has been completely burnt to ashes and
there are no survivors," Namibia Police Force deputy commissioner Willy
Bampton was quoted by Reuters as saying.
The plane left Mozambique on Friday.
Flight TM470 took off from the country's capital, Maputo,
at 11:26 (09:26 GMT) and was due to arrive in the Angolan capital, Luanda, at
14:10.
The last contact made with the plane was when it was over
northern Namibia.
The authorities say most of those on board were Mozambican
or Angolan, and several more were Portuguese. The aircraft also carried one
citizen from each of Brazil, China and France.
Initially, the airline said there were signs the aircraft might
have landed near Rundu.
But on Saturday, Mr Bampton said villagers in the area had
heard an explosion.
"Botswana officials informed us that they saw smoke
in the air and they thought the crash happened in their country, but when they
came to the border they realised that it was in Namibia," Willie Bampton
said.
The Bwabwata National Park in Namibia's Kavango East
region - covering around 6,100sq km (2,355 square miles) - is a
sparsely-populated area of dense forests.
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