In general, attacks in Namibia have fallen. According to AFP 75 people have been killed and more than 1,500 wounded in Namibia over the past year. More dead as plane crashes Another air crash has highlighted the poor air safety record in Angola, and has led to all Antonov aircraft being grounded by the aviation authorities. On 15 November a civilian Antonov 24 crashed minutes after taking off from Luanda airport, killing all 57 passengers and crew. The crew were Ukrainian, and the other 53 people were Angolan.
Preliminary investigations suggest that the crash was caused by mechanical failure.
This was the second major air tragedy in recent weeks. On 31 October an Antonov crashed after taking off from Saurimo, killing all 48 people on board. On 23 November the Director of Angola's Civil Aviation Authority, Branco Ferreira, was sacked and replaced by Helder Presa. Presa has indicated that there is going to be a tightening of maintenance checks and other measures will be implemented to reduce the number of fatal accidents. Military activities are confined to certain areas.