Ivory Coast plane crash: Aircraft goes down in Atlantic Ocean near Abidjan

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A plane has crashed into the sea shortly after taking off from the international airport in Ivory Coast’s main city Abidjan.

Four Moldovan citizens were killed and a further two injured, Ivorian authorities said. Four French citizens, reportedly soldiers, were also hurt.

The crash happened during a storm with heavy rain and lightning.

Images showed the plane in pieces in the surf as witnesses and officials arrived at the shoreline near Port-Bouet.

A spokesman for French armed forces in Ivory Coast said it was carrying military cargo. The injured have been transported to Abidjan’s Port-Bouet camp for treatment, he added.

One aviation analyst claimed the aircraft was a Soviet-designed Antonov model belonging to a charter company sometimes used by the UN.

Its tail appeared to have shorn off from section of the plane where the wings join the fuselage.

Insignia on the tail suggested it may belong to Valan International Cargo Charter, whose logo is a distinctive winged white ‘V’ on a blue background.

A call to the company’s head office in Moldova by The Independent was not answered. The firm operates the Antonov AN-26-100 model.

Hundreds of onlookers gathered at the beach on Saturday as rescue workers ran to the scene.

“There was winds yesterday and I saw how planes seemed to have difficulties in getting up,” a witness said.

Air traffic at the airport appeared to continue after the crash, according to flight-tracking website FlightRadar24.

In February 2000, a Kenya Airways Airbus 310 carrying 179 people destined for Lagos, Nigeria crashed into the ocean after take-off from Abidjan, leaving only 10 survivors.

Additional reporting by agencies