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DRC plane crash toll hits 37
16/04/2008 10:57 - (SA)
Goma - The toll from a passenger jet, which crashed into a crowded market in the Democratic Republic of Congo rose to 37 on Wednesday, hospital sources said a day after the tragedy.
More than 100 people were wounded, they said.
Rescue workers had recovered 21 bodies from the crash site, the
chairperson of the airline said on Tuesday.
But they had so far been unable to establish if any of the plane's
passengers were among the victims, or if all those killed were on the
ground at the time of the crash.
The DC-9 jet crashed into the Birere market area of Goma, the
capital of the eastern province of Nord-Kivu, about 14:30 and burst into flames.
The plane was heading for the capital, Kinshasa, but it was not clear
how many passengers had disembarked at Goma.
It was the fifth fatal plane crash in DRC since June last year.
The last was in October after a cargo aircraft ploughed into a
working-class district of Kinshasa and killed at least 50 people.
United Nations fire crews were sent to the crash site to help put out Tuesday's
blaze in Goma after the crash. They had said at least seven
passengers survived.
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