Passenger plane hits Congo market district
Just 6 known survivors of DC-9 carrying 85; ground casualties also likely
NBC World Blog
BREAKING NEWS
MSNBC News Services
updated 1 hour, 4 minutes ago
GOMA, Congo - A plane crashed Tuesday into a residential neighborhood in the eastern Congo town of Goma, and at least 79 people were believed to have died, government officials said. There were six known survivors.
It was not immediately known how many people may have been killed on the ground when the DC-9 plane faltered shortly after takeoff, said Julien Mpaluku, the governor of the province.
"We have already picked up many bodies — dozens of bodies," Mpaluku said. "There are a lot of flames which makes it difficult to know if the bodies we are picking up are those of passengers of the plane or else passers-by or people that lived in the area where the plane crashed."
Among the survivors was one of the pilots, Mpaluku said.
The plane is owned by Hewa Bora, a private airline based in the country, Mpaluku said. It was headed to Kinshasa, Congo's capital, said Gauthier Iloko, the second-in-command at the Goma airport.
The neighborhood of Birere, where the plane went down, is located just beyond the runway. The runway used to continue into the neighborhood, but was partially destroyed by lava from a 2001 volcanic eruption.
This is a developing story. Please check back for details
Re: Passenger plane hits Congo market district
Here is a picture of the marketplace at the end of and below the runway. Probably a very ugly scene and a bad runway to go off the end of.
[airliners61567[/airlinersRunway is around 6500 feet long at about 5000 foot elevation. Couple that with a heavy DC-9 and it was a bad combination.
This -50 was former N410EA of Eastern, TWA, and Allegiant.
RIP to all those lost.
LGA777
Re: Passenger plane hits Congo market district
