Cameroon: Plane crash kills 11 on board

A small passenger plane carrying 11 people “crashed in a forest near Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé,” the transport ministry said.

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear, but the plane lost radio contact with air traffic controllers and was later located in the forest near Nanga Eboko, around 150km (90 miles) north-east of Yaoundé, the ministry said in a statement.

The aircraft was flying from Yaoundé Nsimalen airport to Belabo, in the east of the country, it added.

According to reports, the plane was ‘chartered’ by a private company, the Cameroon Oil Transportation Company, COTCO, which maintains a hydrocarbon pipeline that runs between Cameroon and neighbouring Chad.

It says “the crash was the first major air catastrophe in the country since 2007” when a Kenya Airways plane carrying 114 people crashed after take-off from Douala Airport.

BBC/Christopher Ojilere