The death toll from a plane crash in Democratic Republic of Congo has risen to 47 after five more bodies were found in the rubble of wrecked houses, and two people died of their injuries.
The remains found were buried in a local cemetery in Goma, capital of the vast central African country's eastern Nord-Kivu province, where the ageing DC-9 crashed on take-off on Tuesday.
The district of Birere where the crash happened remains sealed off today as rescuers hunted for more bodies feared to be lying under smashed shops and houses.
Authorities said some 15 people are still unaccounted for.
Meanwhile Nord-Kivu province staged a day of morning today, with flags at half-mast and church services.
With the precise cause of the crash still unknown, calls have grown for Kinshasa to enact 'urgent, effective and durable measures' to make the country's skies safe.
Airport sources in Goma have said the DC-9 suffered an engine problem after the plane skidded on water along the pothole-strewn runway, with the pilot first trying to continue his take-off and then braking and losing control.
However, DRC's aviation sector is generally viewed as being in a chronic state of disrepair, with ageing Soviet-era aircraft littering the country's stock.
Every single one of the DRC's 50-odd registered airlines has been placed on a European Union blacklist alongside companies from Sierra Leone, Ukraine, North Korea and Liberia.
A 2006 ruling prohibits entry to European airspace, with the Goma plane's owners Hewa Bora having been added to the EU blacklist just last week.
It was the country's fifth fatal plane crash since June last year.
