At least seven people have been killed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo after an Airbus A310 freighter overshot the runway and struck a number of homes.

The accident happened at about 16:00h local time yesterday (Thursday) when the A310 belonging to Services Air attempted to land at the city of Mbuji-

Mayi’s airport in the DRC. According to officials it overshot the runway, causing it to plow through a residential area near the airport and striking several homes.

Mbuji-Mayi, which is the capital of Kasai-Oriental province, is located in the country's south-central region and is about 942 kilometers (585 miles) southeast of the capital Kinshasa.

Kasai-Oriental Governor Ngoyi Kasanji was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying that at least seven people had been killed in the crash-landing, all of whom lived in homes near the airport. The four crew members who were on board the cargo plane escaped without injury.

Local Radio Okapi was also quoting a local source who said the runway excursion followed two failed landing attempts, after which the aircraft landed in the middle of the runway and was unable to stop in time. As a result, it overshot the runway and came to a stop about 500 meters beyond the end of the runway.