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5 held for stealing plane parts
27/03/2008 13:31 - (SA)
Kinshasa - Four Congolese and a Russian have been arrested for "cannibalising" parts from a Russian airplane grounded after a macabre accident, say officials.
"Five people, including one Russian, were arrested on Saturday at Aru for cannibalising an airplane in this town's airport," the regional governor, Mawa Enzoroni, said.
One of those charged with the theft of two engines, among other parts, was the manager of the civil aerodrome in the town 260km north of Bunia, the regional capital of Ituri province in this vast African country's northwest.
The Russian was identified as the owner of a private airline, Bel Globe, which had also had a similar Russian-built Antonov 12 type aircraft grounded for technical problems at Bunia.
A Congolese military officer said that the parts were "in all probability" intended for the second aircraft - with the Russian, a qualified mechanic, also accused of being in the Democratic Republic of Congo without legal paperwork.
Aircraft 'has a tyre burst'
One of the two missing engines had been found by military police, and was being held as evidence against the group.
The first plane, owned by private Congolese company Wimbi Dira, had not flown since a freak accident assumed deadly proportions in October 2005.
The aircraft, requisitioned by the army to ferry troops to the border with Sudan in a fight against Ugandan rebels, had a tyre burst on take-off.
The shock triggered panic among the heavily-armed soldiers on board, who opened the plane's doors and started firing at United Nations peacekeepers coming to their aid.
At least two of the commandos on-board had their heads sliced off when falling from the aircraft as it rolled along the runway.
Old Soviet planes scuttling around Africa had been recognised as major health and safety hazards for years - with the Antonov 12 first entering military service in 1957.
In one of the worst incidents of its kind, more than 300 people were killed in January 1986 after an Antonov 32 - first produced in 1976 - came down on a crowded market near the centre of Kinshasa.
Just last October, another 50 died after an Antonov 26 - the prototype going back to 1969 - came down three minutes after take off, ploughing through homes before exploding in flames.
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