Search crews canvas Cameroon rainforest for jet that crashed

CAMEROON: Rescuers searched a densely forested region overnight in southern Cameroon for a Kenya-bound flight that crashed with 114 people, including 15 Indians, on board after sending out a distress signal, officials said.

The jet bound for the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, went down early yesterday near Lolodorf, a town about 90 miles (150 kilometres) southeast of the coastal city of Douala, where it had taken off after midnight, said Alex Bayeck, a regional communications officer.

There was no word on survivors, Bayeck said by telephone en route to the crash site.

Search planes flew over the forested area where the airliner gave off a distress signal, but no wreckage has been spotted.

The search continued on the ground through the night, but helicopters could not operate effectively in the dark, said Jean Francois Villong, a local official coordinating the rescue effort. The helicopters would start again on Sunday, he said, and more rescue workers including security forces were expected. Much of yesterday's searching was done by volunteers from local villages, he said.

"It is very difficult because this area is very mountainous and heavily forested. And we suspect the plane may have fallen into a valley," Villong said.

Residents in the area, which has few roads and is dotted by small villages, reported hearing a "large boom" during the previous night, Bayeck said, and some people said they saw a flash of fire that looked markedly different from lightning.