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A PASSENGER JET carrying more than 100 people crashed as it tried to land at an airport in the Democratic Republic of Congo today, according to reports.
Rescuers pulled 40 survivors from the wreckage of the plane at Kisangani airport. However, Hewa Bora airline chief executive Stavros Papaioannou told Reuters that 53 people had been killed. “The pilot tried to land but apparently they didn’t touch the runway,” he said.
There were 112 people aboard the Boeing 727, which was a domestic flight from Congo’s capital Kinshasa. Sabiti Mwamba, head of the Congolese Aviation Authority, said the crash was “due to the bad weather at the moment when the plane was landing.”
Hewa Bora, which means ‘Fresh Air’ in Swahili, has a history of crashes. In April 2008, one of their DC-9s rammed into a bustling market after failing to lift off from Goma’s airport, killing at least 40 people, most of them on the ground. A few months later in September, a Hewa Bora plane carrying 17 people went down in inclement weather killing all on board.
- Additional reporting by AP
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It’s around the centre of Africa along the Congo river ? I heard one one time …. Kids in the U.S.A. asked to point out Central America on the map, pointed to Kansas!
Did’t a lot of Irish soldiers die in The Congo? I’n sure there are many MANY Irish people who are only too aware where ‘The Congo’ is Seamus !
Take a random sampling of say, 2 million irish and ask them to show you on a map where the democratic republic of Congo is and possibly three of them could show you precisely. We are a nation of xenophobes!
I’m not so sure. I know exactly where DR Congo is on a map. I think its highly unlikely I’m one of only three people Irish people that would know where it is. I’ve travelled to a lot of places and from my experiences, the Irish are actually quite clued in on what’s going on in the world compared to a lot of other nations. Although I do think there is a lot of xenophobia and racism in Ireland. You only need to get into a taxi in Dublin to realise that. I’m always appauled by how many Irish taxi drivers speak about our immigrant population.
Terrible story about the plane crash. Unfortunately, it the developing world, it is typical for airlines to have poor safety records.
Seamus you are a fool
I know where it is…
It’s like the wild west there , ordinary folk take their life in their hands traveling on those old 727′s , but you will see the political elite in their new French private jets !
have your say