- guardian.co.uk,
- Wednesday April 16 2008
More people than initially thought survived when an airliner crashed into a busy market neighbourhood in the Democratic Republic of Congo, it emerged today.
At least 60 people were reported to have been killed yesterday, but today the death toll was 21. The Red Cross said 113 people had been injured and were being treated in local hospitals and clinics.
The Congolese Hewa Bora Airways plane was attempting to take off from an airport in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, when it careered off the runway, through a fence and into the Birere market, where sugar, avocado, flour and fuel are sold. It then burst into flames.
The crash site was such a scene of devastation that it was difficult to tell whether the bodies pulled from the wreckage were passengers or bystanders.
A Hewa Bora spokesman, Dirk Cramers, said the airline was "still trying to count the number of victims and wounded, but until now none of the 79 people on the official list of passengers and crew have been found dead. The crew managed to save the majority of the passengers with the help of peacekeepers."
Rescue workers with tractors, trucks and shovels searched for survivors as peacekeepers sprayed the wreckage with hoses.
"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," said Julien Mpaluku, a regional governor.
Anna Ridout, of the World Vision aid agency, said rescue workers carried away about 20 bodies, many on stretchers. The agency has offices less than a mile from the market.
"I talked to a man who rescued seven people, including a six-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."
A former pilot, Dunia Sindani, was among the surviving passengers. He told a local radio station the plane suffered a problem with one wheel - possibly a flat tyre - and did not have enough power to lift off.
Mpaluku said one of the plane's pilots reported that an engine died as the plane taxied down the runway. When the pilots tried to brake, a tyre failed as well.
It was unclear if weather played a part in the crash. It had stopped raining about an hour before the DC-9 tried to take off at 3pm (2pm BST), residents said.
Goma's runway was partially blocked and effectively shortened by lava from a 2001 volcanic eruption.
Last week, Hewa Bora was put on a European Union list of banned airlines.