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Crashed plane reported found in Cameroon

By DPA

Nairobi : An airliner bound for the Kenyan capital Nairobi which went down in southern Cameroon with 114 people including 15 Indians aboard early Saturday has been located, Cameroon radio reported Sunday.

First reports said it was not known if there were any survivors. The Kenya Airways plane was reported to have been located in a rain-forest southwest of the Cameroon capital, Yaounde.

The aircraft originally took off from the Ivory Coast city of Abidjan and made an interim stop at Douala in Cameroon before taking off again shortly after midnight on its way to Nairobi.

The takeoff from Douala had been delayed for an hour because of heavy rain. Within 15 minutes of being airborne the plane sent out an emergency signal and contact was lost after that.

Bad weather on Saturday and Sunday had hampered the search operations.

The Boeing 737-800, which was just six months old, was carrying 105 passengers and nine crewmembers. Most of those onboard came from Cameroon, India and South Africa. The crew were from Kenya.

On Sunday the airline published a list of the passengers' names. The seven Europeans aboard included a British Nairobi-based correspondent for the Associated Press news agency.

The head of cellphone giant MTN in Cameroon, Campbell Utton, 51, was among those aboard the plane, reports out of South Africa said.

Kenyan Transport Minister Ali Makwere and a team travelled to Cameroon and a crisis centre was established in Douala.