An aircraft carrying 11 people has crashed into a forest during a storm.
It is said to be unlikely that any of the 11 survived after the plane went down near to Nanga Eboko, Centre Province in Cameroon.
Authorities have said the tragic incident occurred at around 2pm (local time) on Wednesday (May 11).
A major storm hit the country’s capital Yaoundé late in the afternoon, causing the plane to lose signal after it took off from the city’s Nsimalen airport.
Cameroon’s Transport Minister Ernest Ngalle Bibehe confirmed in a statement that air traffic control lost contact with the plane.
Authorities sent both air and land rescue teams after the aircraft disappeared, according to CNA.
Those rescue teams have now reached the wreckage but it remains highly unlikely that anyone has made it out alive.
Authorities have not yet revealed which airline the plane belonged to but they did release some images of the crash site.
A ministry official, speaking anonymously, said the plane “crashed” and rescuers were “trying to see if it’s possible to save anyone”.
Cameroon24 reported that the crash left no survivors but this has not been confirmed by official sources.
A list of the names of those onboard has now been released: “Dicka Endalle Estelle, Kesseng Jean Charles, Pewite Nkwenti Serge, Tchehou Tchakounte Serge, Asu Rudolf, Baban Andre, Kouayep Armand, Ndanjo Gadinga Celetsine Tchatua Ernest.”
Some of those are airline personnel whereas others are workers for the Cameroon Oil Transportation Company, COTCO, the private company which chartered the plane according to official sources.
COTCO maintains a hydrocarbon pipeline that runs between Cameroon and neighbouring Chad.
The tragedy is Cameroon’s first reported major air catastrophe since 2007, when a Kenya Airways plane carrying 114 people crashed after take-off from Douala Airport, leaving no survivors.
