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DRC official cargo plane with eight aboard goes missing
KINSHASA, Oct 11, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A cargo plane that was providing
logistical assistance for a trip by DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi has
gone missing, the country’s Civil Aviation Authority said on Friday.
It said air traffic controllers lost contact with the Antonov 72 on
Thursday, 59 minutes after it took off from the eastern city of Goma.
The plane, carrying four crew and four civilian and military passengers,
was “providing logistics” for the president, the authority’s director
general, Jean Mpunga, said in a statement.
The aircraft, carrying six hours worth of fuel, had been scheduled to land
in the capital Kinshasa late afternoon.
Mpunga said air traffic control centres on its intended route have found
no trace of the plane, and a search operation has been ordered.
Tshisekedi returned to Kinshasa on Thursday evening after a four-day visit
to the east of the country.
Aircraft accidents involving Antonovs are common in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, sometimes involving a large loss of life.
In September 2017, an Antonov cargo plane chartered by the army crashed
near Kinshasa, killing all 12 people on board.
The country’s deadliest Antonov disaster was in January 1996 when an
overloaded plane overshot the runway in Kinshasa and crashed into a popular
market, killing hundreds on the ground.
BSS/AFP/RY/14:10 hrs