All 17 people aboard a humanitarian aid plane died when it crashed into a mountain in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the country said on Wednesday.
The victims included a Canadian member of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), an Indian employed by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid, a French national and a national of neighbouring Congo who worked for Médécins Sans Frontières.
The others on the plane were all said to be from the DRC.
According to the UN, four worked for the UNDP, three for the non-government organisation Handicap International and four were civil servants working in the DRC Parliament.
None of the victims have been named.
The victims ”gave their lives in the service of peace”, said Sylvie Van Der Wildenberg, spokesperson for the UN mission, known by its French acronym Monuc.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday expressed sadness over the crash in a statement released by his office.
The plane was carrying the 15 UN and private aid workers and two crew when it slammed into a mountain about 15km north-west of the city of Bukavu on Monday.
Monuc helicopters located the wreckage on Tuesday. Air Serv, the United States-based company which chartered the Beechcraft 1900C plane, said in a statement on Tuesday that there were ”no known survivors”.
The company, which specialises in operations for humanitarian groups, said the plane was on a flight from Kinshasa to Mbandaka, Kisangani and Bukavu when it crashed into a steep ridge.
Indian and Pakistani peacekeepers had gone to the remote crash site along with DRC police and troops, Van Der Wildenberg told a news conference.
The circumstances of the accident are still unknown. The weather was reported to have been particularly bad in the South Kivu region on Monday. – AFP
