Another plane crash, all 6 survive

MAUN (AP):

A second light aircraft crashed on take-off yesterday in Botswana's Okavango Delta but all six people on-board survived unscathed, the air charter company said.

Another failed take-off in the same area five days ago killed eight foreigners.

Delta Air manager Kagiso Senwedi told The Associated Press that the passengers, a Namibian and four French tourists with a South African pilot,were transported by boat from Delta Camp in Botswana's remote north to Maun town.

"They are all a bit shaken, which is understandable, and did not want to fly back," he said, adding some suffered only minor injuries.

A Cessna 208B operated by Moremi Air crashed shortly after take-off last Friday from Xakanaxa bush airfield and burst into a conflagration that apparently killed the British pilot and seven tourists from France, Switzerland and the UK. Rescuers who arrived quickly at the scene had to ferry buckets of water from a nearby swamp to try to douse the blaze.

Four people survived last week's crash, including a badly burned Frenchwoman who was medically evacuated for treatment to Johannesburg in neighbouring South Africa.

The Ministry of Transport is investigating both crashes.