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Plane crash in Democratic Republic of Congo leaves many dead Plane crash in Democratic Republic of Congo leaves 26 dead
(about 5 hours later)
Twenty-three bodies recovered after plane crashes in densely populated area of city of Goma Victims recovered after plane crashes in densely populated area of city of Goma
Twenty-three bodies have been recovered after a small plane crashed on takeoff into a densely populated area of the city of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo, rescue workers said. A small passenger plane crashed shortly after takeoff in Congo’s eastern city of Goma, killing 26 people, including passengers, crew and people on the ground, the government said.
“We are up to 23 bodies now,” Joseph Makundi , the rescue service coordinator, told AFP. The 19-seater aircraft crashed into residential homes on Sunday in the Mapendo district near Goma’s airport in the North Kivu province. Black smoke rose from the remains of plane in the morning, but it gradually cleared as rescue workers carried bodies in stretchers and hundreds gathered at the scene. The wreckage could be seen amid destroyed homes with dozens of men trying to assist the rescue efforts.
The dead are believed to include all those onboard the plane as well as people on the ground. The Dornier 228-200 aircraft was owned by private carrier Busy Bee and was headed to Beni, about 350km (220 miles) north of Goma.
Images from the scene showed plumes of black smoke and flames apparently from the burning plane as locals looked on. The provisional death toll jumped to 26 later on Sunday and included 17 passengers, two crew members and seven Goma residents, according to the ministry of transportation. The government has extended its condolences to all the families of the victims.
Rescue workers were also seen combing through the plane’s burnt-out fuselage. Earlier, the National Border Health Program had said there were two survivors, including a crew member, who were being cared for at a local hospital.
Richard Mangolopa, a Goma airport official, said no survivors were expected from the disaster. Placide Kambale, a local pilot, said he took a taxi to the scene of the crash to help out. When he got there, the plane was on fire. “I called other young people from the neighbourhood, they helped me to try to remove those who still moved, he said. We have managed to recover two that was quickly sent to the hospital, but then the fire expanded.”
The Dornier-228 aircraft had been heading to the city of Beni, 220 miles (350km) north of Goma, in the east of the country, when it went down in a residential area near the airport. The UN mission in Congo said it sent an emergency crash and rescue team with two fire engines to support Congolese authorities.
“There were 17 passengers on board and two crew members. It took off around 9am (7am GMT),” Heritier Said Mamadou, a Busy Bee airline staff member, said. Plane crashes are frequent in the central African nation of Congo because of poor maintenance and relaxed air safety standards. None of Congo’s commercial carriers, including Busy Bee, are allowed to fly into European Union airspace because of safety concerns.
Busy Bee, a recently established company, has three planes serving routes in the North Kivu province.
One of the company’s maintenance workers at the site quoted by news site actualite.cd blamed a “technical problem” for the crash.
The exact number of casualties was not yet known.
The UN mission deployed in DR Congo, Monusco, sent two fire engines to support local rescue services.
Aircraft accidents are common in the vast, conflict-wracked central African country, in particular involving Antanov planes. Last month, an Antonov 72 cargo plane that was providing logistical assistance for a trip by the DRC president, Félix Tshisekedi, and carrying eight crew and passengers, went missing after taking off from Goma.
In September 2017, an Antonov cargo plane chartered by the army crashed near the capital Kinshasa, killing all 12 people on board.
The country’s deadliest Antonov disaster was in January 1996 when an overloaded plane overshot the runway in Kinshasa and crashed into a market, killing hundreds on the ground.
Goma is the capital of North Kivu province. Beni, the plane’s destination, has been at the epicentre of an Ebola outbreak that has killed more than 2,000 people in the last year.