Plane veers off runway in Congo, bursts into flames
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) - April 15, 2008 Witnesses reported dozens of bodies at the crash site in this
city in eastern Congo. Rescue workers with tractors, trucks and
shovels searched for survivors as U.N. peacekeepers sprayed the
wreckage with hoses. Smoke and flames engulfed the charred debris.
The remains of the cockpit and tail rose over the flattened
fuselage, Anna Ridout of the aid agency World Vision said from the
scene. Rescue workers carried about 20 bodies from the plane, many
on stretchers, she said.
Regional Gov. Julien Mpaluku said up to 75 people were injured,
though it was unclear whether they had been on the ground or
passengers on the DC-9 jetliner operated by the private Congolese
company Hewa Bora Airways.
"We have already picked up many bodies - dozens of bodies.
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," Mpaluku said.
There was no confirmed tally of the dead and injured - either on
the plane or on the ground.
Dirk Cramers, a representative of Hewa Bora, said at least 53
passengers and seven crew members were taken to hospitals.
"I talked to a man who rescued seven people, including a
6-month-old baby, from an exit door. They were still conscious and
moving," Ridout said. "But he couldn't go any further because he
couldn't see anything. There was too much smoke."
Congo, which is struggling to emerge from a 1998-2002 civil war,
has experienced more fatal crashes since 1945 than any other
African country, according to the nonprofit Aviation Safety
Network.
Last week, the European Union added Hewa Bora to its list of
airlines banned from flying in the EU.
Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Alison Duquette said
no Congolese airlines now fly into the U.S., although they are not
banned from doing so.
World Vision said in a statement that the plane "failed to
leave the ground," plowing "through wooden houses and shops in
the highly populated Birere market."
A former pilot, Dunia Sindani, was among the surviving
passengers. He told a local radio station that the plane suffered a
problem in one wheel - possibly a flat tire - and did not have
enough power to lift off.
One of the plane's pilots reported that an engine died as the
plane taxied down the runway, Gov. Mpaluku said. When the pilots
tried to brake, a tire failed as well, the governor said.
It was unclear if weather played a part in the crash. It had
stopped raining about one hour before the DC-9 took off at about 3
p.m., residents said.
Goma's runway was partially blocked and effectively shortened by
lava from a 2001 volcanic eruption. The plane appeared to have
burst through a fence separating the runway from a market district
of wooden houses and cement shops where sugar, avocado, flour and
fuel are sold.
The jetliner had been headed to the central city of Kisangani
and then to the capital, Kinshasa, 700 miles to the west.
President Joseph Kabila expressed condolences to the affected
families and called for an investigation.
The DC-9, an aviation workhorse for decades, has been involved
in a number of accidents, including ValuJet Flight 2553, which
plunged into the Florida Everglades on May 11, 1996, killing all
110 people aboard.
On Jan. 1, 2007, a Northwest Airlines DC-9 went off the runway
in Milwaukee. The accident was due to an explosion in one of the
engines, forcing the pilot to abort takeoff. Of the 104 people
aboard, only one injury was reported.
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Associated Press Writers Eddy Isango in Kinshasa, Congo and
Robert Wielaard in Brussels contributed to this report.
