Congolese officials survive plane crash inferno (VIDEO)
A delegation from the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DR Congo) mines ministry has survived a plane crash in the country’s southern Lualaba Province, according to the authorities.
The aircraft, carrying Congolese Mines Minister Louis Watum Kabamba and his officials, veered off the runway and caught fire while landing at Kolwezi Airport on Monday, the minister’s spokesperson Isaac Nyembo told local reporters at the scene.
“Fortunately, we all got out, even though our luggage remained on board,” the spokesperson added.
According to data from the Switzerland-based Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archive (BAAA), which tracks global aviation crashes, 26 passengers and three crew members were aboard the chartered Embraer jet.
“All 29 occupants…escaped without injuries before the airplane would be destroyed by fire,” BAAA stated.
The plane flew from the capital Kinshasa with Kabamba and his delegation on a mission to Kalando copper and cobalt mine, where a bridge collapse killed at least 32 artisanal miners over the weekend.
Footage shared on social media showed a private Embraer jet, operated by Angola’s Airjet, resting beyond the end of Kolwezi’s runway with flames and thick smoke rising from the rear of the fuselage as passengers escaped the wreckage.
Similar runway incidents have occurred in DR Congo in recent months. In August, Congolese army Colonel Patrick Gesore, his wife, and four others were reportedly killed when their plane crashed near Kisangani shortly after takeoff. Earlier this year, an Air Kasai Antonov An-26 cargo aircraft overran the runway while landing at Kongolo airport in Tanganyika province and caught fire, but all five crew members escaped unhurt.
