Cargo plane crashes on landing in Ghana

A cargo plane has crashed while attempting to land at an airport in Ghana’s capital, slamming into cars and a bus loaded with passengers on a nearby street and killing at least 10 people, officials said.

The crash on Saturday night happened in Accra near the Kotoka International Airport, which sits near newly built high-rise buildings, hotels and the country’s defence ministry.

Al Jazeera’s Yvonne Ndege said that witnesses had described the aircraft smashing through the airport perimeter fence before hitting the bus.

At least 10 people were killed in the crash, all in vehicles on the road struck by the plane, said Billy Anaglate, a spokesman for the Ghana Fire Service.

Ambulances took the injured to nearby hospitals.

The Boeing 727-200 was operated by Nigerian cargo airline Allied Air, Doreen Owusu Fianko, managing director of Ghana Airport Company, told reporters.

“The aircraft collided with a mini Mercedes van resulting in 10 confirmed fatalities,” she said, adding that all four crew of the aircraft had survived the accident.

The plane had taken off from Lagos, Nigeria, but failed to stop at the end of the runway after it touched down at Accra’s Kotoka airport just after 19:00 GMT, she said.

The area is near to El-Wak Sports Stadium and Hajj Village, where Muslims in the country stay before they journey to Mecca.

Local television showed images of the plane lying across a road with its tail damaged as the flight crew jumped off and received help from emergency responders.

Ghana, a nation of more than 25 million in West Africa, has not had a major airplane crash in recent years.

The last air emergency the country had was in June 2006, when a TAAG Linhas Aereas De Angola flight to Sao Tome hit birds during takeoff.

The plane landed safely and none of the 28 people onboard were injured.