Scores killed as jet crashes into Congolese city

[dong20]

A Congolese jetliner carrying around 85 people failed to take off from an airport today, crashing at high speed into a busy market neighbourhood at the end of the runway, officials said.

Dozens killed as Congo plane crashes - Africa, World - The Independent

Some of the aircraft crashes in Congo since 1996. The list isn't exhaustive.

_ April 15, 2008: A DC-9 fails to leave the ground on takeoff and crashes into a residential neighborhood at the end of the runway in the eastern town of Goma with around 85 passengers and crew aboard. Casualty figures vary widely, but the tragedy leaves dozens dead.

_ Oct. 4, 2007: An Antonov 26 cargo plane crashes into a Kinshasa neighborhood shortly after takeoff, killing at least 50 people.

_ Sept. 7, 2007: An Antonov 12 plane lands into a chunk of hardened lava at an airport in eastern Congo, bursting into flames and killing at least eight people. Officials say it landed too far down the runway to stop in time.

_ Aug. 26, 2007: Fourteen people die when an overloaded Antonov 12 plane crashes in the eastern region of Katanga. Officials say it was flying with about 3 tons over the recommended capacity.

_ Aug. 3, 2006: An Antonov 28 crashes into a mountain and then tumbles into a valley in eastern Congo, killing all 14 passengers and its three Ukrainian crew members.

_ July 7, 2006: Five people die when an Antonov crashes in Congo's eastern mountains.

_ April 27, 2006: A cargo plane carrying telecom equipment crashes in eastern Congo, killing as many as eight passengers and crew on board.

_ Oct. 4, 2005: An Antonov 12 aircraft carrying 100 Congolese army troops crash lands in eastern Congo. Two soldiers die and five are seriously wounded.

_ Sept. 5, 2005: A cargo plane hits a palm tree as it tries to land near the eastern Congo town of Isori, killing seven people aboard the Antonov 26 plane.

_ May 25, 2005: An Antonov 12 crashes shortly after takeoff near Bunyakiri, a village in eastern Congo, killing all 26 people aboard.

_ May 5, 2005: An Antonov 26 hits a treetop as it lands near the central Congo city of Kisangani and slams into the ground, killing 10 of 11 people aboard.

_ Nov. 29, 2003: A military plane plows into a crowded market at the end of a runway as it fails to take off from the central city of Boende. Twenty of the 24 people aboard the twin-engine Antonov 26 die, along with 13 people on the ground.

_ May 8, 2003: The rear door of a cargo plane bursts open at 10,000 meters (33,000 feet), hurling dozens to their deaths while others survive by clinging to the plane as it returns to the airport in the capital, Kinshasa. More than 100 were presumed dead in the Ilyushin 76 accident.

_ Dec. 14, 2001: Six people, including senior rebel officials, die when an LET 410 aircraft goes down in bad weather in rebel-held northeastern Congo.

_ Aug. 23, 2001: An Antonov 28 owned by Agefreco Air loses power and crashes into eastern Congo's jungle, killing four people

_ Aug. 12, 2000: A plane carrying 21 passengers and six crew members crashes after technical problems kept it from landing in the city of Tshikapa in Congo's diamond-mining region. Thirteen bodies are recovered from the wreckage of the Antonov 26; others were never found. The plane's pilots and some of its owners were Ukrainian.

_ April 20, 2000: Six Rwandan army officers and four Russian crew members die when the plane they were traveling in crashes on takeoff in southern Congo.

_ Feb. 8, 1999: A private plane hired by the military to fly supplies to northwestern Congo crashes shortly after takeoff, killing all eight people on board.

_ Sep. 12, 1997: A plane carrying 20 people to a religious meeting crashes in the Minembwe mountains, killing all on board.

_ June 6, 1997: A passenger plane flown by Bazair Airline crashed near the northeastern town of Irumi, killing all 30 people aboard, including the owner of the company. State television said a cabin fire apparently caused the crash.

_ Jan. 8, 1996: An Antonov 32 turboprop crashes seconds after takeoff from Kinshasa's airport, skidding across a busy street and plowing into a crowded open-air market, killing about 300 people.

Source.

Last week, the European Union added Congo's Hewa Bora Airways to a list of aviation companies banned from flying in the 27-nation bloc over safety concerns.

I can't imagine why. Congo makes Zambian Scareways (an airline I've flown with on occasion) look positively robust.

 

[Gillette]

Jesus.

Safety is expensive. If governments don't put a premium on human life the companies certainly won't.

I'm always impressed with the stringent standards in place for airline carriers and even moreso when I learn of additional safety standards some companies place on themselves.

A quote shared by an Air Canada pilot - "It is better to arrive late in this life than to arrive early in the next."

 

[dong20]

Jesus.

Safety is expensive. If governments don't put a premium on human life the companies certainly won't.

Priority. In too many places, people aren't one.

I'm always impressed with the stringent standards in place for airline carriers and even moreso when I learn of additional safety standards some companies place on themselves.

Yes, although I sometimes wish they were more rigorously enforced, and more often that the penalties for violation far more punitive.

A quote shared by an Air Canada pilot - "It is better to arrive late in this life than to arrive early in the next."

My instructor taught me the usual one ... "If you can walk away, it was a safe landing."

 

[Principessa]

I heard about this on the news this morning. So sad. :frown1:

Plane crash in Congo kills 30


(CNN) -- At least 30 people were killed Thursday after a plane crashed in a poor, crowded suburb of Kinshasa right after takeoff, according to a Congolese Ministry of Information official.


All 22 on board the plane -- 16 passengers and six crew -- were killed, as well as up to eight people on the ground, according to Jean-Pierre Eale, an aide to the Democratic Republic of Congo's information minister.

However, U.N. peacekeeping spokesman Michel Bonnardeaux, citing police reports, said 25 people were killed and two aboard the plane survived -- a mechanic and a flight attendant who was in critical condition, The Associated Press reported.


The Antonov-26 crashed into at least one house near a crowded marketplace in the country's capital, Kinshasa, Congolese officials said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said one of the plane's propellers broke off during takeoff and one of its wings was sheared off as it hit a bank of trees, AP reported.


Several witnesses echoed that account to AP, saying the aircraft appeared to be missing a propeller before it crashed.


"The plane clipped several treetops and hit the roofs of three houses, crashing onto its back with its tires in the air," Japhet Kiwa, who lives a few miles away from the airport, told AP. "There was a huge explosion."
The plane took off from Kinshasa International Airport, also known as N'Djili International Airport, around 10:40 a.m. (5:40 a.m. ET) en route to Tshikapa in the southern part of the country near the Angolan border, Eale and other Congolese officials said.


A few minutes after takeoff, the plane experienced problems and began dumping fuel before establishing radio contact with the airport's tower, Eale said. Just as it radioed the tower, the plane crashed into the suburb of Masina, he said.


Video of the scene showed smoldering wreckage, including what appeared to be one of the Antonov-26's two turboprop engines and the charred remains of a building. Dozens of men hoisted a water hose to douse the flames.

http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/.element/img/2.0/mosaic/tabs/video.gifWatch residents help with rescue efforts »


Joseph Prior, director of the local Doctors Without Borders mission, said he and his colleagues treated around 10 or 15 people who suffered third-degree burns after the plane crashed into their homes.

"It was mostly chaos and confusion all over the place," he said. He described the neighborhood as "quite a shantytown" with "lots of ramshackle houses."


The aircraft is owned by local airline El Sam and leased by the Malila company, Congolese transportation official Rashid Patel said.

The Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire, has a dismal aviation record. There have been at least 24 plane crashes since last year -- nearly half of them involving Antonovs -- according to Aviation Safety Network. Ten of the crashes since October 4, 2006, have resulted in 61 deaths.

 

[Gillette]

Yes, although I sometimes wish they were more rigorously enforced, and more often that the penalties for violation far more punitive.

I don't wish to hijack your thread if safety wasn't your primary issue for posting this but in Canada, with bill_C-45, we have managed to work safety into the criminal code.

Employers, management right up to the owner of a company, can now be held criminally responsible for death and injury occuring on the job.

From the criminal code

2.17.1 Every one who undertakes, or has the authority, to direct how another person does work or performs a task is under a legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent bodily harm to that person, or any other person, arising from that work or task.

 

[dong20]

I heard about this on the news this morning. So sad. :frown1:

I hope you check the news more often than this suggests! :tongue:

I had 30 seconds of confusion because the information was completely at variance with my posting, then I realised; you cited the wrong crash, the one you linked to happened on October 4th ... 2007.

It's the 2nd one in my list. There are so many though ... and (this isn't aimed at you or Gillette obviously), it seems that's of little concern to anyone. It is only Africa after all so I shouldn't be surprised.