Congo governor says plane crashed southeast of capital, casualties unknown

Associated Press
06/20/09 9:20 PM EDT

By: EDDY ISANGO

KINSHASA, CONGO — A Boeing 737 crashed southeast of Congo's capital on Wednesday, but there was no immediate word on casualties or whether the plane carried passengers or cargo, a provincial governor said.

Gov. Richard Ndambu said the plane crashed about 130 miles (210 kilometers) southeast of Kinshasa in the province of Bandundu.

Ndambu said the Boeing 737 took off from the city of Brazzaville in neighboring Republic of Congo and was heading to Nairobi, Kenya.

Mpindi Kabeya, an adviser to Congo's prime minister, said two identity cards had been found: that of an Algerian pilot and another of a student from Brazzaville. It was not immediately known, however, whether the two people had died.

Rescue workers headed to the site and saw from afar a large plane "still burning," the governor said.

Air safety has long been lax in Congo, where officials are easily bribed and tight maintenance schedules are rare. There have been at least 20 fatal plane crashes since 1996. Most of the aircraft are aging planes from the former Soviet Union.

The last serious crash was in September, when a humanitarian aid flight carrying 17 people hit a ridge in bad weather in eastern Congo. No one survived.

In October 2007, at least 50 people were killed when a cargo plane slammed into three houses just after taking off from Kinshasa's international airport on a flight to central Congo.