Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Dozens dead in Congo plane crash


A plane has crashed in the Democratic Republic of Congo shortly after take off near to the town of Goma. The plane was en-route to the eastern town of Kisangani. Early reports suggested that 83 were killed after the DC-9 came down on the eastern border of the Democratic Republic of Congo with Rwanda. However a UN spokesman later said there had been 4 survivors [CNN spoke to a DRC government official who said that 5 crew and 10 passengers had survived the crash which came down in a residential area of Goma. Antoine Ghonda MP said only 75 had died in the latest in a series of air disasters. The DRC has one of the worst air safety records in the world with 24 recorded crashes in the last year alone. The cause of the latest crash is as yet unknown, but it has been suggested engine failure played a part in the disaster [BBC].

Anna Ridout, of World Vision, has told CNN that the plane careered through a highly populated area of Goma which she described as a market area of the town. The plane came down at around 15:00 local time. Ridout said that large crowds of shocked residents had gathered near to the crash site where there was “extensive damage” on the ground. Eric Joyce, a British MP who was also in the area at the time of the crash, told the BBC it was hard to tell what the situation on the ground was. He said he had seen at least six dead and many injured brought into the local hospital.
Lionel Healing, an AFP photojournalist who witnessed the crash, told Al-Jazeera he saw the aircraft plunge into a row of shops and continue into the centre of town across a busy road. He said he saw a large numbers of dead bodies pulled from the wreckage.

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