UN plane crashes in Congo, 32 dead

A United Nations plane crashed yesterday at Kinshasa airport in the Democratic Republic of Congo, killing 32 of the 33 people on board.

The crash occurred as the CRJ-100 aircraft attempted to land in the capital Kinshasa in heavy rain and strong winds. The aircraft broke in two and caught fire.

Accident scene. Photo: Internet

The plane is understood to have taken off from the city of Kisangani in northeastern Congo.

The plane's operator, Georgian airline Airzena Georgia Airways, said the crew was Georgian. Twenty UN staff were on board. The passengers included Congolese and several foreigners.

The nationality of the sole survivor is unknown.

“We can confirm that only one of the 33 people on board survived,” UN spokesman Farhan Haq said in New York.

“The plane landed very hard, broke in two and caught fire,” a UN source said in Kinshasa.
Joseph Kiboko, a Congolese health ministry official, said eight people who were still breathing were taken to hospital but all later died. Both pilots were killed.

A witness at Kinshisa airport said the plane was completely destroyed and its remains were lying at the end of the runway.

The UN peacekeeping mission in Congo has been operating in the country since 1999, supporting the Congolese government's efforts to combat rebel groups in the country's restive east since a 1998-2003 civil war that killed 5 million people. The mission is due to end at the end of June.

According to Dan Tri