A plane burns Tuesday after crashing on takeoff in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo.

A plane crashed Tuesday on takeoff from the Goma airport in the Democratic Republic of Congo, tearing roofs off houses as it plowed through a crowded marketplace near the runway and killed at least 75 people.

Fifteen others -- five crew members and 10 passengers -- survived the crash, said Antoine Ghonda, a Congolese lawmaker and former foreign minister. It's unclear if the death toll included people on the ground.

Among the surviving passengers was a family of four Americans, who sustained minimal injuries, a U.S. Embassy spokeswoman said.

The Hewa Bora Airways DC-9 was taking off about 3 p.m. from Goma in the eastern mountains for the central city of Kisangani, Ghonda said.

According to a manifest the U.S. Embassy obtained, 79 passengers and five crew members were aboard the plane when it crashed.

U.N. spokesman Kemal Saiki said the pilot and the co-pilot were among the survivors based on conversations with rescuers on the scene.

Rescue workers continue to search the burned wreckage of the DC-9 passenger jet. There are concerns that many people on the ground may have perished when the plane slammed into the marketplace in Goma's Birere neighborhood.

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