( CNN ) -- A humanitarian plane carrying 17 people -- most of them relief workers -- has crashed during a storm in a mountainous region in the Democratic Republic of Congo , the United Nations said Tuesday . File image of a Beechcraft 1900 aircraft . Search and rescue crews were not immediately able to land their helicopter in the area and determine whether anyone survived the crash in the east of the country , said Christope Illemassene , spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs ( OCHA ) in the capital city of Kinshasa . But Air Serv International , the relief group that operated the plane , said an aerial survey has indicated that all the occupants on the Beechcraft 1900 plane died . The plane was on a routine flight from Kinsasha to the eastern city of Goma on Monday , with three stops , Illemassene said . Air-traffic controllers lost contact with the plane when it approached Bukavu , the last of its three intermediate stops . The weather in the area was stormy at the time , Illemassene said . Search and rescue crews spotted the plane 's debris Tuesday , about 9.4 miles ( 15 km ) northwest of the Bukavu airport , Illemassene said . `` We 're anxiously waiting for results from the search and rescue operation , '' he said . `` We 're really hoping the peacekeepers are able to land near the site and confirm whether there are any survivors . '' Air Serv International , based in the U.S. state of Virginia , is one of several groups that provides transport services to relief organizations in the Democratic Republic of Congo .
Flight operators : Aerial survey indicates occupants on aircraft died . Search and rescue crews not able to land their helicopter in the area , U.N. says . Comment: The plane was carrying a lot of people who weren't going anywhere.