Five killed, 66 injured in crash of Angolan plane

LUANDA, June 28 (Reuters) A passenger jet of Angola's national airline crashed in northern Angola today, killing at least five people, on the same day the European Union banned the airline from its airspace for safety reasons.

The plane, a Boeing 737 belonging to state TAAG-Angola Airlines and carrying 78 passengers, was en route from Luanda to M'Banza Congo, near Angola's northern border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, official news reports said.

Angolan radio said five people were killed -- one fewer than earlier reports -- and 66 injured.

The official Angop news agency said the plane lost control while making an emergency landing and crashed into a building.

It said several injured passengers were taken to hospital.

Among the dead were the municipal administrator of M'Banza Congo and a senior Roman Catholic priest from Italy, it said.

The cause of the accident was under investigation.

Aviation sources in Luanda said the aircraft apparently punctured two tyres on landing, causing one wing to dip and touch the runway. The plane then veered out of control and crashed into the building, they said.

Aircraft carrying investigators and additional medical personnel were sent to M'banza Congo, the sources said.

Angola, which emerged from a long a damaging civil war in 2002, is struggling to repair damaged infrastructure such as airport runways, many of which remain in poor condition.

EU BAN The crash occurred on the same day that the EU added TAAG-Angolan Airlines to a list of international carriers banned from its airspace for safety reasons, a move that could have serious financial implications for the airline.

TAAG, Angola's national airline, flies to destinations in Angola as well as cities in Africa, Europe and South America.

Last year, the airline took delivery of several new Boeing jets and has options on several more.

The new fleet is aimed at beefing up its international routes with an eye to introducing flights to Beijing, Houston and Dubai -- a sign of Angola's growing economic importance as sub-Sarahan Africa's second largest oil exporter after Nigeria.

Angola's worst recent year for air disasters was 2000, when 87 people were killed in two separate crashes in the southwest African country in one month.

In the first, a Russian-built passenger plane crashed after exploding in the air in northeast Angola, killing all 48 people on board. UNITA rebels, who at the time were engaged in a bitter civil war with Angola's Russian-backed government, claimed responsibility.

Two weeks later a Russian-built Antonov aicraft crashed near the capital Luanda, killing all 39 people on board.

Reuters KK VP0102