As many as 130 of an estimated 200 passengers on an internal flight in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were feared dead after a door on a Soviet-era cargo plane burst open in mid-flight, military officials at Kinshasa airport said on Friday.
The accident occurred on Thursday night when the Soviet-era cargo plane, which had been chartered by the Congolese army, was flying at an altitude of 2 200m en route from Kinshasa to the southeastern city of Lubumbashi.
A spokesperson in Kinshasa said the door opened after the hydraulic system failed shortly after takeoff.
The spokesperson added that passengers were ”sucked out of the plane”, after which the pilot turned the plane around and landed in Kinshasa.
The Ilyushin 76 airplane has a large rear cargo door that runs for roughly the length of the tail along the belly of the fuselage.
Members of DRC’s rapid intervention police force and their families were among the flight’s passengers. It is believed they number among the fatalaties.
The accident was only reported on Friday morning after the victims’ relatives were informed of the tragedy, the officials said.
An investigation has been launched to determine the causes of the accident.
The most recent reports state that 40 people, including the Russian crew, survived the accident, while the DRC Communications Minister, Kikaya Bin Karubi has stated that only seven people were sucked out of the plane.
The skies over Africa are frequently plied by old airplanes, many of them propeller-driven craft made in the former Soviet Union, and accidents are frequent.
The most deadly accident dates back to January 1996, when the Russian crew of an Antonov cargo plane had to abort take-off from Kinshasa airport because the aircraft was overloaded.
Travelling at high speed, the plane ploughed into a busy market that had been set up illegally just off the runway.
Official figures say 365 people were killed in the accident but unofficial sources put the number of dead at more than 800 people, some reportedly sliced to death by the plane’s propellers or crushed by the aircraft. – Sapa-DPA, Sapa-AFP