32 dead in UN plane crash in DR Congo

UN confirms crash, one survivor.

KINSHASA:

A United Nations plane crashed while trying to land at the airport serving Congo’s capital

Kinshasa on Monday, killing 32 people, a Congolese health ministry official said. There was one survivor though.

The United Nations confirmed the crash, adding that both Congolese and foreign nationals were on the flight. The operator of the plane, Georgian flag carrier Airzena Georgian Airways, said the crew was Georgian.

“Definitely there are casualties, but we can’t give figures, investigations are ongoing, people are still working at the crash site,” UN mission spokesman George Ola Davies said.

The UN’s 19,000-strong peacekeeping mission is backing Congo government efforts to fight rebel groups that have been haunting the country’s troubled east since a 1998-2003 civil war.

Earlier health ministry official Joseph Kiboko said least 20 of the 32 passengers and crew on the UN flight were killed after the plane lost control in high winds during landing.

The plane had taken off from the eastern city of Kisangani, the UN said.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 5^th,  2011.