Passenger plane crashes into houses in DR Congo, kills 24 people, injures many

Tragedy struck in Goma city in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo when a small passenger plane crashed into houses in the area killing no fewer than 24 persons in the process.

North Kivu regional governor Nzanzu Kasivita said that the small aircraft went down in the Mapendo neighbourhood after “missing” its take-off from the city’s airport on Sunday morning.

Rescue workers and local residents rushed to the crash site to evacuate the injured and also retrieve the bodies.

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Officials say 17 passengers and two crew members were on board the plane which claimed the lives of residents on the ground, including four family members who were in their home.

The cause of the crash is still unclear, but some sources said the plane experienced engine failure right after take-off, the BBC’s Emery Makumeno reports from the capital, Kinshasa.

The Dornier-228 twin-turboprop aircraft – owned by private carrier Busy Bee – crashed about a minute after take-off from the airport, a source at Goma airport told the BBC.

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