Plane Crash In Eastern Congo – DC-9
Source –
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1312951,00.html
At least 60 people have been killed after a passenger plane crashed into a residential area in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Crash in Goma, near Rwanda borderGovernment officials said a DC-9 plane hit the Birere neighbourhood in the town of Goma.
The crash happened when the flight faltered after take-off, according to Julien Mpaluku, the governor of the province.
A Congolese Red Cross official said at least 60 people had been killed.
Rescue teams have pulled at least 10 survivors out of the wreckage, according to a commander at Goma airport.
“The plane appears to have missed its take-off and crashed in a populated neighborhood,” said Mpaluku.
“As the plane has just now crashed, we have sent a team to the site to determine how many passengers were on board.”
A spokesman for the UN mission in Congo, Kemal Saiki, said: “It is a plane from the company Hewa Bora with 60 to 70 passengers on board.”
Birere is located just beyond the runway, which used to continue into the neighbourhood but was partially destroyed by lava from a volcanic eruption in 2002.
Democratic Republic of Congo has one of the world’s worst aviation safety records.
There were eight plane crashes in the country last year, including one in the capital Kinshasa which killed more than 50 people.
More to follow…
Also from BBC WORLD NEWS
Source – http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7348743.stm
Airliner crashes in DR Congo town
An airliner with at least 60 people on board has crashed shortly after take-off in the town of Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Dozens of people were feared dead, but unconfirmed reports speak of several survivors being pulled from the wreckage as rescuers fought a fire.
The airliner belonged to the private airline Hewa Bora.
DR Congo has one of the world’s poorest air safety records with eight crashes in 2007, Reuters news agency notes.
‘Survivors’
It was not immediately clear whether the plane had hit a residential area of the town.
Estimates for the number of people aboard range from 60 to 100, according to United Nations and aviation officials.
UN mission spokesman Kemal Saiki told Reuters news agency the passenger number was “60 to 70” while aviation officials quoted by AFP news agency said at least 100 passengers and crew had been aboard.
Gauthier Iloko, assistant commander at Goma airport, was quoted by The Associated Press news agency as saying at least 10 people had been pulled out of the wreckage of the plane alive.
“It’s difficult to give a number, but there are already at least 10 survivors that were pulled out of the wreck and who were sent to the hospital,” he said.
By: Newforest - 16th April 2008 at 08:40
CNN now reporting at least 18 people killed. The plane was initially registered as N410EA then N992EA, 3D-BOA and as S9-DBH was leased by Hewa Bora.
By: Newforest - 15th April 2008 at 22:23
The plane was 9Q-CHN. Reported that 79 died although this may change.:(
By: tenthije - 15th April 2008 at 18:23
Reports of five crew and ten passengers surviving. It is interesting that the airline Hewa Bora was put on the EU’s blacklist of airlines last Friday.
Hewa Bora has been on the blacklist for much longer then that. Till recently however they had an exemption for one particular plane to continue the BRU run. Since that plane has been (is?) parked at BRU for a long time awaiting maintenance they probably revoked it’s rights as well.
By: Newforest - 15th April 2008 at 16:51
Reports of five crew and ten passengers surviving. It is interesting that the airline Hewa Bora was put on the EU’s blacklist of airlines last Friday.
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April 15, 2008 at 3:51 pm