Private plane crash kills 5, injures 2 in Burkina Faso

A private aircraft with seven people aboard crashed into a tree Wednesday after failing to take off successfully in Burkina Faso’s eastern region, killing five people and injuring two, authorities said.

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The plane was taking off from a local airport in the city of Diapaga en route to the city of Fada N’Gourma when it “ended up in a tree,” the government news agency Agence d’Information du Burkina said.

The two injured people were rushed to a health facility, and authorities had begun an investigation into the crash, Burkina Faso’s Transportation Ministry said in a statement.

Photos published by the government news agency showed burned parts of an aircraft scattered at what appeared to be the scene of the crash as residents gathered.

It was not immediately clear why the aircraft could not take off successfully.

The Diapaga-Fada N’Gourma route has been difficult to access in recent years because of the security crisis in the area and other parts of Burkina Faso, about half of which is outside government control as jihadi groups have ravaged the landlocked nation for years.