MBANGA-PONGO, Cameroon - Aviation officials said Monday that a plane carrying 114 people nose-dived into a thick mangrove forest over the weekend, disintegrating on impact and making it unlikely any passengers survived.
Villagers wielding machetes and chain saws cleared the way Monday for searchers setting out into a central African swamp where the Kenya Airways jetliner crashed Saturday.
"The plane fell head first. Its nose was buried in the mangrove swamp. It's very unlikely that there are any survivors, but until we have completely surveyed the area, we are not going to announce that," said Thomas Sobakam, chief of meteorology for the Douala airport.
He said the search continued, however. Two other aviation officials in Cameroon, who spoke on condition of anonymity because an official determination had not yet been made, also said it was unlikely anyone survived.
The plane had taken off from Douala, Cameroon's commercial capital, and its wreckage was found just 12 miles from the town's outskirts. The cause of the crash remained unclear.
Among the passengers was Nairobi-based Associated Press correspondent Anthony Mitchell, who had been on assignment in the region.
While the site where the plane went down was not remote, it was in a dense and hard-to-access mangrove forest. The road in was dirt track, its ruts filled with water Monday after heavy overnight rains. The last stretch to the site could accommodate only foot traffic - a large Douala airport truck had become mired in the mud overnight. Searchers emerged Monday covered in mud, carrying shoes they had taken off to wade into the swamp.
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