33 dead in Mozambique plane crash

Police have found the burned wreckage of a Mozambican Airlines plane the day after it went missing in northeastern Namibia, saying none of the 33 people aboard had survived.

The crash in the remote, swampy terrain of Namibia's Bwabwata National Park killed victims from several countries, including a baby, and is one of the worst accidents on record in Mozambique's civil aviation history.

"My team on the ground have found the wreckage. No survivors. The plane is totally burned," Willie Bampton, a regional police coordinator in Namibia's Kavango region, told AFP.

The Mozambican government confirmed the crash and said it would declare a period of national mourning for the victims - six crew members and 27 passengers, of whom 10 were Mozambican, nine Angolan, five Portuguese, one Portuguese-Brazilian, one French and one Chinese.

The plane, en route from Mozambique to Angola, went down in the deserted terrain of the Bwabwata park, where Namibia turns into a narrow strip of land sandwiched between Botswana and Angola.

Mozambican authorities confirmed it was a Brazil-manufactured Embraer 190 aircraft and said it was the newest plane in the airline's fleet.

The airline's chief executive, Marlene Manave, told a press conference the pilots were "experienced".

She also said the victims included a Mozambican baby under two.

The European Union banned LAM and all air carriers certified in Mozambique from flying in its airspace in 2011, citing "significant safety deficiencies".

But the concern was about Mozambique's civil aviation authority, rather than the track record of the various airlines.

The search for the plane was hampered both by the rough terrain and torrential rains pounding the area, the Namibian regional police co-ordinator told AFP.

"There are no proper roads, you have to go through the bush slowly and it's making our job difficult," he said.

The Bwabwata National Park, a 6,100-square-km reserve, is a sparsely populated area covered by wetlands and dense forests.