The aircraft, with 14 people on board, crashed last Saturday in the central highlands, where fighting has been taking place for four weeks.

The resolution deplores the lack of cooperation from Unita and the Angolan Government in efforts to rescue the survivors.

But as the meeting got underway, the Angolan authorities said they were willing to offer the UN any help they could.

Thousands of refugees have flooded into Huambo

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has strongly rebuked the Unita rebels and the government for refusing access to the crash site near Huambo.

But Angola's Defence Minister Pedro Sebastiao said on Thursday it would ''cooperate in every way possible''.

"We are available to create the conditions so that the United Nations can carry out their duty, but this does not only depend on us," he added.

UN staff evacuated

The Security Council meeting to discuss the crisis came as the UN began evacuating staff from Huambo following a major rebel artillery barrage on Wednesday.

The shelling reportedly killed at least six people and wounded around 20 civilians.

Huambo, Angola's second largest city, is held by the government and is used by the army to fly in reinforcements for fighting in surrounding areas.

The UN has some 1,000 troops in Angola overseeing a 1994 peace treaty between the two sides which has now collapsed.

Mr Annan has warned the Observer Mission could be withdrawn by February if the fighting does not stop.

The UN has blamed Unita for the return to war. It says the rebels have refused to yield areas under their control and maintained a hidden army.

The fighting resumed on 4 December when government troops tried to take the strongholds by force.