Li said the victims' family in China had been informed.

The crash, though the first major accident since the inception of Mozambique Airlines in 1980, underscored the safety concerns cast over the state-own company by the European Union, which bans all aircraft of Mozambican airlines from flying into the European airspace.

Despite the ban, LAM has been able to expand its international routes -- now to five African countries include South Africa, Tanzania, Angola, Zimbabwe and Kenya -- and rebuild its reputation through improved service and attractively low fares.

For LAM's Harare-Maputo route, for example, the airline offers 150 U. S. dollars for a return ticket before taxes.

LAM uses Brazilian-made aircraft for almost all of its regional flights.

The transport minister was quick to defend the state airline at Saturday's press conference.

"I never heard nowhere indication that the aircraft of the Republic of Mozambique are not safe ," said Muthisse. "There is much more developed countries that have also had accidents of this nature."

Around the world, there are about a dozen major aviation accidents recorded this year. The worst crash was South Korea's Asiana Airline, whose jumbo Boeing 777 aircraft undershot the runway on landing at San Francisco International Airport on July 6, killing more than 300 people on board.

Of late, a Lao Airlines' ATR-72 aircraft crashed shortly before landing, killing all 49 people on board in October while a Tatarstan Airline's Boeing 737 crashed in November in Kazan International Airport in Russia, killing 50 people.