At least 25 people were killed when a plane crash-landed shortly after taking off from 's capital , an AFP reporter said.

Police were pulling the bodies of men, women and children out of the wreckage of the cargo plane, which crashed into a small farming community on a small island in the White Nile river, close to airport, the reporter said, who counted at least 25 dead.

UN-backed radio said as many as 40 people were feared dead, adding that airport officials had told them only three passengers had survived.