A DC-9 passenger plane crashed into the heavily populated Birere market area of Goma, Congo, around 2:30 p.m. local time on April 15, 2008. The plane had been carrying a reported 79 passengers and six crew members.
Originally, it was reported that most of the passengers had been killed in the crash, but a spokesperson for Hewa Bora Airlines later said that 53 of the passengers and the six crew members were alive and accounted for. According to The Red Cross, 113 people, most of them local residents, were injured and had been taken to hospital. At the end of the day, 21 people were confirmed dead, but whether the casualties were local residents or flight passengers was not reported.
The plane allegedly failed to reach the necessary takeoff speed due to poor weather conditions. When the pilot tried to abort the takeoff, the plane skidded through a wall and then crashed into houses and shops beyond the end of the runway. One of the survivors, a former pilot, reported that the failed takeoff was due to a flat tire.
Fast Facts:
- Airline: Hewa Bora Airways
- Model: McDonnell Douglas DC-9
- Scheduled destination: Kinshasa, Congo
- The 4 UN officials who were aboard are among the survivors
- 5th fatal plane crash in Congo since June 2007
- Hewa Bora Airways was banned from flying into the European Union on April 11, 2008, due to a poor safety and maintenance record
