“We are up to 23 bodies now,” Goma rescue service coordinator Joseph Makundi told AFP.

Goma airport official Richard Mangolopa told AFP no survivors were expected from the disaster.

The Dornier-228 aircraft had been headed for Beni, 350 kilometres (220 miles) north of Goma when it went down in a residential area near the airport in the east of the country.

“There were 17 passengers on board and two crew members. It took off around 9-9.10 am (0700 GMT),” Busy Bee airline staff member Heritier Said Mamadou said.

Busy Bee, a recent company, has three planes serving routes in North Kivu province.

One of the company’s maintenance workers at the site quoted by news site actualite.cd blamed a “technical problem”.

The number of casualties on the ground was not yet known

AFP