AN Angolan army helicopter which crashed at the weekend killing 30 people was loaded far beyond its 24-seat capacity, witnesses said on Tuesday. According to witnesses, the Russian-built Mil-8 transport aircraft was carrying 37 people and two pigs when it took off on Saturday from the highland city of Lubango, 650km south of the capital Luanda. It failed to gain altitude and crashed soon after takeoff, bursting into flames on the runway. Investigators have been sent to the site. “You don’t take off in a helicopter designed for 24 with 37 people and two pigs plus two 200-litre fuel tanks. Not if you want to fly,” a professional pilot who has flown the Mil-8 told Reuters. He added that thinner air at Lubango, which sits 5,500 feet (1,700 metres) above sea level, could have depleted the aircraft’s power by as much as a third.