At least four people were killed Thursday, December 23 in the crash of a small plane a few minutes from its landing at the airfield of a city in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, sources learned from AFP. official.
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"It is a small carrier from the Malu-aviation company coming from Goma in North Kivu who had a crash this morning in the forest, 5 or 6 minutes from his landing at Shabunda airfield," said AFP Théophile Kiluwe, interim governor of South Kivu (east).
There are “no survivors.
There were four people on board, including two passengers and two crew members.
“In addition to the people on board, the plane was also carrying goods,” added Théophile Kiluwe.
The administrator of the territory of Shabunda, Kashombania bin Saleh, for his part indicated that there were on board "three crew members including the pilot of Belgian nationality and two passengers, a man and a woman".
All were killed, he said.
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The accident took place "in the Kalenga forest, 15 km as the crow flies from Shabunda-center between 9:00 and 9:30 (7:00 and 7:30 GMT)" Thursday, told AFP, Me Joseph Mpeseni, president of civil society in Shabunda territory.
An airport source in the region told AFP that "since Wednesday, no plane has taken off from Bukavu", the capital of South Kivu, "because of the bad weather recorded in this area".
The small plane that crashed is a Short 360.
In the landlocked eastern part of the DRC, stronghold of multiple armed groups, this type of small aircraft is the main means of transporting basic necessities and minerals.
The Congolese air fleet is still on the European Union's blacklist.