Dozens killed in DRC plane crash
2013-03-04 19:27
Kinshasa - Dozens of people were killed when a plane
crashed into a residential area of Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of
Congo in bad weather on Monday, police said.
At
least three survivors were taken to hospital, police sources said, though the
exact number of passengers on board was still unclear.
The
aircraft, a Fokker belonging to the local CAA company, was coming from the
central mining town of Lodja and went down just before landing at Goma Airport,
the sources said.
The
accident took place during heavy rainfall.
"We
don't yet know the number of victims because we're still looking to get the
[passenger] manifest from Lodja. But we estimate there could be between 30 and
50 deaths," said Julien Paluku, governor of North Kivu Province, which has Goma
as its capital.
Aircraft
accidents are frequent in the vast DRC, where many planes are old and
airports lack modern equipment. All of the country's roughly 50 airlines are on
the blacklist of the European Union, which has banned them from its airspace.
In
February 2012, a close aide to President Joseph Kabila was killed when
his plane overshot the runway at Bukavu Airport in the country's east.