A cargo plane with 19 people on board crashed today into a neighbourhood of Democratic Republic of Congo's capital, Kinshasa.
The Russian-made aircraft belonging to Congolese airline Africa 1 came down on houses in the Kingasani neighbourhood near Ndili international airport and exploded.
A United Nations spokesman said many people were feared dead, adding that the UN had sent a rescue team and firefighters to the crash.
An airport official said fire fighters were struggling to reach the wreckage in the shanty town.
Air travel is notoriously dangerous in Congo. Cargo planes in Congo are often flown by experienced pilots from former Soviet states, but the aircraft are usually old, ill-maintained and overcrowded. It was reported that the crew were Russian.
Congo, a country the size of Western Europe, has one of Africa's worst air safety records and was dubbed an "embarrassment" by the International Air Transport Association last year.
In 1996, an Antonov 32 turboprop crashed seconds after takeoff from Kinshasa's airport, skidded across a street and ploughed into an open-air market, killing at least 300 people.