KINSHASA: At least 53 people on board a plane carrying 112 have survived a plane crash in the Democratic Republic of Congo Friday, the airline said.

The plane, run by Hewa Bora, crashed at Kisangani airport in the north east of the country.

“We don't know how many people are dead but there are at least 53 survivors from a total 112 passengers and personnel crew,” the director of the firm Hewa Bora, Stavros Papaioannou, told AFP.

The accident was caused by a violent storm, said government spokesman Lambert Mende.

The plane was on its regular commercial route, from Kinshasa to Kisangani and Goma when it was hit by the storm about 250 metres from the airport, a local spokesman said.