The Soviet-made Ilyushin-76 cargo plane, operated by local carrier Trans Air Congo was travelling from Pointe-Noire, the commercial capital of the Central African state.

It crashed into more than a dozen houses near the airport.

Congo Republic, like its neighbour the Democratic Republic of Congo and many countries in the region, has one of the world’s poorest aviation safety records due to poor maintenance and the use of old planes banned from other skies.