KINSHASA, May 26 (Xinhuanet) -- All 32 passengers and crew members aboard a plane which crashed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were feared dead, a senior aviation official told Xinhua Thursday.

    The Antonov-28 plane vanished three minutes after takeoff Wednesday morning from an airstrip in the eastern town of Goma, inNord Kivu province, en route for Kindu, the capital of Maniema province, the official said.

    The wreckage of the plane was found Thursday by a United Nations search plane near Bunyakiri, a village located in dense forests and mountains, and no survivors were found, he said.

    Local media said earlier there were 26 people aboard the plane,including 21 Congolese passengers, a Russian pilot and four Ukrainian crew members.

    The Congolese aviation authorities have not yet established the cause of the crash, according to the official.

    Kindu lies roughly 390 km southwest of Goma in a region of rolling hills and thick tropical forest.

    Few passable roads traverse the DRC after decades of war, forcing local residents to rely on often-unsafe boats and planes to move around the vast central African country.

    Earlier this month, an Antonov-26 clipped a treetop during its landing approach and crashed in central Congo, killing 10 of the 11 passengers aboard.

    In December 2003, an Antonov-26 plowed into a crowded market atthe end of a runway in a northeastern town, killing 33 in the plane and on the ground. Enditem