By Prensa Latina,
Kinshasa : The fall of a DC-9 plane with 85 people aboard on a neighborhood at the east of the city of Goma caused the death of at least 79 travellers Tuesday, governmental sources said here.
The sources said that only 6 survivors were found in the last hours, one of them a pilot.
The plane was on a flight to Kinshasa, and the Governor of the province of North Kivu, Julien Paluku, said there were 79 passengers and six crew members in the plane, a property of local private airline Hewa Bora.
Paluku said the area where the accident occurred was surrounded by flames, so it was difficult to determine if the bodies found were of those travelling in the plane or residents in the neighborhood.
Officials from the airport assured there was no information on the injured people among residents.
Paluku stated dozens of bodies were picked up, and there was still fire over which firemen were working in the zone.
The first reports on the accident said that the airplane presented technical failures since it took off and went on the neighborhood of Birere, located along the track of the airport.
It seems the plane lost height when trying to leave and smashed against the neighborhood, a provincial authorized source said.
A wounded interviewed by Radio Okapi, a radio station supported by the UN, said a tire exploded at the takeoff.
This accident occurred only six months after a Congolese Antonov-26 smashed against a neighborhood of the capital, causing 50 dead and 32 wounded people.