CONGO – At least 27 people were killed after a passenger plane crashed into houses in the city of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, local officials said.
The victims included nine people from the same family who were in one of the houses hit in the Mapendo area.
The small Dornier-228 twin-turboprop aircraft – owned by private carrier Busy Bee – went down shortly after taking off from the city’s airport on Sunday morning. The cause of the crash is still unclear.
The plane was carrying 17 passengers and two crew members, officials said.
Air accidents are relatively frequent in Congo amid lax safety standards and poor maintenance, and all the country’s commercial carriers are banned from operating in the European Union.(BBC)
