AN Antonov cargo plane has crashed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing all 21 passengers and six crew members on board, according to state television and sources at the national aviation authority. State television reported that 13 bodies had so far been recovered from the wreckage. The plane crashed on Saturday afternoon 63km from Tshikapa, a diamond mining centre south-east of Kinshasa. “The plane was experiencing various technical problems. The control tower told him to land but the pilot attempted to return to Kinshasa. Then it crashed,” a source said. Another source said there was a problem with one of the plane’s tyres shortly before the aircraft crashed. The Russian-built plane belonged to a local operator called Stare Air and was piloted by a Ukrainian.
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