By Cara Anna
BEIJING — A Zimbabwe-registered cargo plane crashed shortly after taking off Saturday from a Shanghai airport with seven crew members aboard, state media and witnesses said.
The official Xinhua News Agency reported that four crew members, all foreigners, were injured. The status of the other three was not immediately clear.
But Sky News sources say the cargo plane veered off the runway and burst into flames killing three Amercians and injuring four other crew members.
China Central Television showed billowing thick black smoke at the scene, with police officers blocking closer access.
A reporter from Shanghai’s Oriental Satellite Television told CCTV that the tail of the plane had broken in two or three parts, and hundreds of firefighters were spraying fire retardants on the plane.
The reporter said the four injured people were conscious.
A man answering phones at the Pudong International Airport cargo information office who requested anonymity confirmed the crash but had no details.
Xinhua said the crash occurred at 7:40 a.m. (2340 GMT Friday).
The plane was carrying seven employees on their way from China to Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.
The three dead have been confirmed to be American by US Embassy spokesman Richard Buangan.
China’s official Xinhua news agency has reported one crew member is critically injured and three are in a serious condition.
A man, said to be the 61-year-old American co-pilot, has appeared on Shanghai television saying “Thank you” to staff and officials from a hospital bed.
The TV report said the other crew members were from Indonesia, Belgium and Zimbabwe.
The aircraft was operated by Zimbabwe-based Avient Aviation.
An official at Avient’s Harare office said the flight was operated out of its UK office and could not say what cargo was on board.
More than 30 international flights were delayed, leaving about 4,000 travellers stranded on planes or in airport lounges, Xinhua said.
In June 2006, a Chinese military plane crashed in eastern China’s Anhui province, killing all 40 people aboard. AFP/ Sky News
