At least 27 people were killed on Wednesday when an Antonov transport plane on a flight from the northeastern city of Goma to the south-eastern town of Kongolo crashed in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, military officials said.

"Twenty-seven people, 22 passengers and five crew members, were killed in the crash of the plane," said a military source who spoke on condition of anonymity from Goma.

The defense ministry and civil aviation authorities in Kinshasa confirmed the crash but were not able to give any further details.

The transport plane belonged to a private Congolese company Victoria Air and had been chartered by another group, Maniema Union.

A five-year civil war which ended in 2003 destroyed much of Congo's infrastructure. Planes are often the only way of covering huge distances in a country the size of Western Europe.

Ten people were killed earlier this month when an Antonov plane flown by a Ukrainian crew crashed into trees and caught fire near Congo's northeastern city of Kisangani.

At least 350 people were killed when an Antonov cargo plane crashed into a crowded market in the capital Kinshasa in 1996, while in December 2003 an Antonov-26 crashed into a market near the town of Boende, 600 km (375 miles) from Kinshasa.

(Chinadaily.com via agencies May 26, 2005)