Plane Crashes in Eq. Guinea, 11 Feared Dead

The disaster came a day after an airliner in Democratic Republic of Congo piled into a crowded market in the eastern city of Goma.

Eleven people were feared dead after an Equatorial Guinean military plane crashed into the Gulf of Guinea on Wednesday, the government said in a statement.

Official spokesman Santiago Nsobeya said the Russian-made Antonov was flying from the city of Bata on the African mainland to the small southern island of Annobon.

All five crew members and six civilian passengers -- who were campaigning ahead of municipal and parliamentary elections on May 4 -- were presumed dead. So far only four bodies have been recovered.

The disaster came a day after an airliner in Democratic Republic of Congo piled into a crowded market in the eastern city of Goma, killing at least 40 people and injuring about 90.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) says the air accident rate in Africa is six times worse than in the rest of the world and calls this an "embarrassment".

Airlines from oil-rich Equatorial Guinea, a former Spanish colony, are blacklisted in the European Union for safety reasons.