Seven people have been killed in Mauritania after a military plane chartered by a Canadian mining company to transport gold crashed an aviation official said.\nThe plane caught fire shortly after taking off from an airstrip in Nouakchott the West African nation s capital on Thursday. \nThe pilot attempted to return to the runway but failed to reach it said the official affiliated with Mauritania s flight control agency.\nThe military crew members custom officials and contractors working for a Canadian mining company aboard died on the spot. \nAll of them were citizens of Mauritania the official added. He declined to be named in line with department policy.\nHe said the plane was bound for the Tasiast gold mine some 200 kilometres 125 miles north of the capital. It is owned by Canada s Kinross Gold Corporation.\nThe company said the YAK-12 plane was chartered to bring gold back from the mine to the capital and had no gold aboard at the time of the accident. \nIn a statement the company said those killed were the two pilots two custom officials and three of the firm s security personnel contractors.\nThe Mauritanian official however said earlier that three military crew members two custom officials and two of the mining company s employees were killed.