Death toll from Congo plane crash rises to 39
Updated: 2007-10-05 21:20
Kinshasa - The death toll from a plane crash in Congo's capital rose to 39 on Friday, including a child who died in the early morning from burns received in the fire that engulfed a block of homes hit by the plane.
 A woman weeps at the scene of a plane crash in a residential neighbourhood of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, October 4, 2007. [Agencies] |
Firefighters finally snuffed out the flames from Thursday's crash early Friday, allowing aid workers to intensify their search for bodies.
The cargo plane slammed into three houses Thursday just after taking off from Kinshasa's international airport toward central Congo. Six homes were destroyed in either the crash or the conflagration that burned until the early hours of the morning, said Serge Mulumba, an official at Congo's humanitarian affairs minister.
Mulumba said they have now counted 39 dead from the accident, up from at least 25 reported by the United Nations on Thursday. He said 12 bodies were pulled from the plane Thursday. It was not clear if his toll also included those on the flight whose bodies have not yet been found.
The crash Thursday underscored the dangers of flying in Congo, which has experienced more fatal air crashes than any other African country since 1945, according to the Aviation Safety Network. The turboprop belonged to the Congolese company, Africa One, which had been barred from flying in the European Union because of safety concerns.
It was not immediately known what caused the Antonov 26 piloted by a Russian crew to go down. One of the plane's propellers broke off during takeoff, and one of its wings was sheared off as it hit a bank of trees, Russia's Foreign Ministry said.
Police reports show people aboard survived the crash -- a mechanic and a flight attendant who was in critical condition -- said UN peacekeeping spokesman Michel Bonnardeaux.
Amid the wreckage, it was difficult to determine who had been aboard the plane and who was not.
Three Russians were among the dead: the pilot, co-pilot and a flight engineer, Russia's Foreign Ministry said.
The aircraft crashed into the impoverished neighborhood of Kingasani, a few kilometers (miles) away from Kinshasa's Ndili International Airport, setting palm trees ablaze and destroying three single-story homes set between two dirt roads. Little was left of the plane, except two detached wheels on the roof of a house, ripped strips of the plane's riveted exterior, and what appeared to be part of an engine. A large bent propeller stuck out of the earth, surrounded by gray concrete blocks, trash, ripped clothes and debris.
UN-funded Radio Okapi said the aircraft was headed to Tshikapa in the central province of Kasai Occidental.
Civil aviation chief Alphonse Ilunga said the plane's flight manifest indicated 16 people aboard, but an unknown number of others boarded before takeoff.
One of the worst air accidents in Congo's history occurred in 1996, when an Antonov 32 turboprop crashed seconds after takeoff from Kinshasa's airport, plowing into a crowded open-air market and killing about 300 people.
In August, the government suspended the licenses of a number of private local airlines and suspended the national director of civil aviation after an Antonov 12 carrying three tons over the recommended capacity crashed in the eastern region of Katanga, killing 14 people.In September 2005, the government briefly grounded 33 airlines, pulling their operating licenses following an earlier rash of plane accidents in the Central African country.
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