Democratic Republic of Congo authorities on Tuesday said that four bodies had been retrieved from the wreckage of a cargo plane which crashed in the country's eastern region last week.

The bodied have not yet been identified, but the plane is said to have been flying back to the capital, Kinshasa, from the west of the country when it crashed.

The Antonov An-72 transport aircraft, which was operated by the air force on behalf of the presidency, was said to have been carrying staff of the presidency, among whom were President Felix Tshisekedi's driver, a logistics manager and some soldiers.

The country's aviation authority said the plane went off radar about an hour after it departed.

On Saturday, the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) sent two planes and a helicopter to locate the plane.