Plane crash kills 23 at DR Congo city

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Residents react after a small aircraft carrying around 15 passengers crashed in a densely populated area in Goma on the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo. — AFP photo

GOMA, DR Congo: Twenty-three bodies were recovered yesterday after a small plane crashed on takeoff into a densely populated area of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo, rescue workers said.

“We are up to 23 bodies now,” Goma rescue service coordinator Joseph Makundi told AFP.

Goma airport official Richard Mangolopa told AFP no survivors were expected from the disaster.

The Dornier-228 aircraft had been headed for Beni, 350km north of Goma when it went down in a residential area near the airport in the east of the country.

“There were 17 passengers on board and two crew members. It took off around 9-9.10am (0700 GMT),” Busy Bee airline staff member Heritier Said Mamadou said. One of the company’s maintenance workers at the site quoted by news site actualite.cd blamed a ‘technical problem’.

The number of casualties on the ground was not yet known. — AFP