In the DR Congo, the plane fell in the city center: up to 50 dead, but there are also survivors

The Fokker brand plane crashed today in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He fell on the residential quarters of the city of Goma during a strong rain. The victims of the fall could become from 30 to 50 people. The exact data is not yet available, ITAR-TASS reports.

“We do not yet know the exact number of victims, but, according to our estimates, from 30 to 50 people died,” the governor of the province of Northern Kiva Julien Palak told reporters. According to the governor, three survivors were discovered. He did not specify whether we are talking about people who were on board, or about people living in these areas.

In turn, the mayor of Goma Naason Cubuya reported that there were 40 people on board the Fokker. According to the mayor, 36 of them died, the mayor of the city said today. The aircraft fell in the city center near the building of the Central Election Commission, but the residential quarters were not injured, Kubuya added.

Nevertheless, later the police said that she discovered only five bodies at the scene and that three survivors were hospitalized. Sources at the airport said that there were nine people aboard, including three crew members.

The Russian Embassy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo cannot yet confirm or refute the information that appeared earlier in some Internet media about the death of Russian citizens in a plane crash. “I still can’t confirm or refute this information,” the consul Alexander Tkachev told the ITAR -TASS correspondent on the phone.

Goma is a strategically important city in the province. According to the local police, the plane flew from the city of Lodge and did not reach the landing strip due to complicated weather conditions.

In DR Congo, many aircraft have developed their resource. All local airlines are included in the “black list” of the European Union, they are forbidden to fly in the sky above the EU space.

The board belonged to the local airline SAA and crashed during a strong rain. The plane did not reach seven kilometers to the landing strip. It is possible that it was precisely complex weather conditions that led to the tragedy. One of the serious plane crash in DR Congo happened in February 2012. Then, in the area of ​​the airport, Bukawa crashed the closest ally of the President of the country by Joseph Kabala.

The Netherlands near -Magistral passenger Fokker 50 can transport up to 58 passengers.