Crash in Congo

[typo]

bbcworld is reporting a large aircraft crash in DR Congo, lots of canucks over there, hope everyone is safe.

[bob sacamano]

Dozens Reportedly Killed In Congo Plane Crash
10 Survivors Pulled From Wreck
CBS News Interactive: Eye On Air Safety
KINSHASA, Congo (CBS) ― A DC-9 plane crashed Tuesday into a residential neighborhood in the eastern Congo town of Goma. It was not known how many people were on board, but an official said at least 10 had been pulled from the wreckage and taken to a hospital.

The plane faltered after takeoff and hurled into the populated neighborhood in the Central African nation, said Julien Mpaluku, the governor of the province.

The flight was headed to Kinshasa, Congo's capital, said Gauthier Iloko, the adjunct commander of the Goma airport.

"We are preoccupied with trying to save as many survivors as possible," Iloko said. "It's difficult to give a number, but there are already at least 10 survivors that were pulled out of the wreck and who were sent to the hospital."

The DC-9 is owned by Hewa Bora, a private company, Mpaluku said. Iloko said the plane's manifest had not yet been located.

Various media outlets reported that dozens were killed in the crash.

The neighborhood of Birere where the plane went down is located just beyond the takeoff lane. The lane used to continue into the neighborhood but was partially destroyed by the lava that followed a 2001 volcanic eruption.

Few passable roads traverse Congo after decades of war and corrupt rule, forcing the country's deeply impoverished people to rely on boats and planes to move around.

Congo has one of the worst air safety records in the world.

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.

(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

[small penguin]

60?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/15/congo

A passenger plane has crashed into a busy market area in eastern Congo, killing at least 60 people, a Congolese Red Cross official said today.

The DC-9 crashed in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, shortly after taking off. It had been travelling to Kinshasa, Congo's capital.

"At this point, there are around 60 people dead who were in the plane," the official said. He added that there were likely to be more casualties on the ground.

Kemal Saiki, a spokesman for the UN mission in Congo, told Reuters that the plane belonged to a private company, Hewa Bora, and had up to 80 passengers on board.

"Half of the plane has broken off … there is a fire towards the back," a witness told Reuters. "People are coming with buckets of water to put out the fire.

"It destroyed a building … the two buildings next door are blackened."

Goma residents reported hearing a huge explosion and seeing a large plume of smoke.

Rescue teams have already pulled at least 10 people out of the wreckage alive, Gauthier Iloko, the adjunct commander of Goma airport, said.

However, other reports said only six people were known to have survived.

"We are preoccupied with trying to save as many survivors as possible," Iloko said. "It's difficult to give a number, but there are already at least 10 survivors that were pulled out of the wreck and who were sent to the hospital."

The Birere neighborhood, where the plane came down, is near the airport runway.

"The plane appears to have missed its takeoff and crashed in a populated neighborhood," Julien Mpaluku, the province's governor, said.

"As the plane has just now crashed, we have sent a team to the site to determine how many passengers were on board."

Last Friday, the EU added Hewa Bora Airways to its list of airlines banned from flying in the EU, but did not give a reason.

Today, Michele Cercone, an EU spokesman, said all airlines based in the Democratic Republic of Congo were banned from EU air space.

"That is because there is a general lack of effective control by the civil aviation authorities there to monitor and maintain minimum technical standards," Cercone said.

Cercone said that, until a few weeks ago, one Hewa Bora plane had been allowed to fly to Europe under a special exemption deal, but that deal had expired.

Congo, a vast country the size of western Europe and with only a few hundred kilometres of paved roads, has one of the world's worst aviation safety records.

Last year, there were eight plane crashes there, including one in Kinshasa in which a plane plunged into a crowded neighbourhood, killing more than 50 people.

[Chuck Ellsworth]

Sadly Africa has a worse culture of over loading their airplanes than the Canadian float plane industry.

[small penguin]

This one has a fairly good pic:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 09281.html

[linecrew]

This one has a pic of the DC-9 from behind...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/world ... ref=africa

[IflyaSewerpipe]

Huh, looks like the reversers were deployed.

[linecrew]

Apparently they never got off the ground. This news report describes FOD'ing an engine after going through large puddles of water. The crew delayed aborting the takeoff and then ran off the end (hence the deployed reversers). More pics here too.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gjw ... EYIQpOBrGw

[invertedattitude]