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BANGUI, July 7 (AFP) - Scavengers and looters were on the scene with lightning speed, removing bits of fuselage and even the shoes of the dead, after a Boeing 707 plane crashed in the Central African Republic three days ago, witnesses said on Sunday.

The burned-out corpse of the plane drew local craftsmen armed with saws and hammers in search of valuable fuselage metal.

Twenty-four people died when the plane came down in the Central African Republic (CAR) while en route between the Chad capital N'Djamena and Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo.

It crashed in a swampy, thinly populated area on the fringes of the CAR capital Bangui where it had tried to land because of a "technical incident", according to final exchanges between the cockpit and Bangui control tower.

Two days after the tragedy, it was hard to identify what remained on the ground as the carcass of a plane, so much had vanished.

Local craftsmen who make pots and pans descended on the scene to strip the wreck despite warning shots from security staff guarding the site during a crash investigation.

The scavengers would pretend to flee when shots rang out, then steal back within minutes.

The rasping and clanging of saws and hammers made the crash site sound like a metalworking plant in full swing.

Red Cross and emergency services searching among the remains said looters had systematically stripped the dead of their belongings.

Looting is widespread after accidents in this impoverished state, where two-thirds of the five million citizens live in total poverty, according to the United Nations.

Central African Defence Minister Pierre Angoi went on radio to warn looters and call on the public to "show that we have respect in Central Africa."

But the haste of the looters looked indecent even to battle-hardened local emergency workers.

"Mobile phones were taken away and some of those who took them were police who came to seal off the carea," said one rescuer.

"One victim lying bathed in his own blood had a gold chain ripped off his neck," said another.

Another rescue worker described how a looter had taken away a briefcase "that probably contained documents, possibly money."

At least 26 people were aboard the plane, including 20 from Chad. Only the plane's flight engineer and a woman from Chad survived. - Nampa-AFP

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