17 killed in DR Congo military plane crash
Seventeen people were killed after an aircraft carrying a Congolese military delegation crashed in Kenge, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's southwestern Kwango province, on Friday.
Footage from Viory showed residents and soldiers gathered around the wreckage, with parts of the aircraft scattered across the ground. Witness Maman Dilane said the plane was flying at low altitude before crashing and bursting into flames.
Provincial authorities said all 17 people on board were killed, including 13 military personnel and four civilians, one of them a baby. The death toll was revised upwards as emergency teams recovered more bodies from the wreckage.
Among those killed were Lieutenant-General Joseph Mutombo Katalayi Tiende, first president of the High Military Court, and Lieutenant-General Lucien-René Likulia Bakumi, auditor general of the Congolese armed forces. Both were returning from an official mission in Kikwit.
The aircraft was travelling from Kikwit to Kinshasa when it crashed in a residential area of Kenge. Authorities said it appeared to have encountered a problem and was attempting to land. No residents on the ground were killed.
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President Felix Tshisekedi has ordered an in-depth investigation into the cause of the crash, while investigators have been deployed to the site.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
