Angolan radio quoted a senior army officer Brigadier Joo Jota Manuel as saying the survivors had been taken to rebel bases, near the crash site at Huambo, 500km southeast of the capital, Luanda. He did not say how many of the 14 people who had been on board survived the crash.

So far, there has been no comment from Unita.

Earlier, officials said the Angolan Government had given security guarantees to allow a UN team to travel to the combat zone, where the cargo plane went down. The UN mission is reported to be seeking similar guarantees of safety from the rebel movement, Unita.

Artillery barrage

The UN blames Unita leader Jonas Savimbi for the renewed violence

The aircraft crashed with 14 people on board near the central highland city of Huambo, where government forces and Unita rebel troops have been fighting for four weeks. It was reported to have been shot down minutes after taking off from Huambo airport.

The UN has evacuated staff from Huambo following a major rebel artillery barrage on Wednesday. The shelling reportedly killed at least six people and wounded around 20.

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.

UN deadline

The UN says it had asked several times for a ceasefire in the area around the crash, but until now both the government and Unita had denied receiving any request.

A resolution had set a deadline of January 11 for co-operation by Angolan forces, making a threat of further action, but stopping short of explicitly mentioning military intervention.

Angola's Defence Minister Pedro Sebastiao said on Thursday the government would ''co-operate in every way possible''.

Failing peace

"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.

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

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.