UN CHARTERED PLANE CRASHES ON TAKE OFF IN CONGO
(Posted 31st May 2018)
The five occupants of a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, registration 5X-MRH, had a lucky escape when disaster struck at take off.
The aircraft, which entered service in 2012, was attempting to fly out of the Kamonia airstrip in Congo enroute to Kamako.
The two crew and three passengers reportedly were sustaining non life threatening injuries.
The UN’s World Food Programme, which had chartered the aircraft, late yesterday issued the following statement about the accident which saw the plane overturn:
A Cessna Caravan airplane operated by the WFP-run United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) was involved in an accident today on take-off from a remote airstrip in Kamonia in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The two crew members and three passengers sustained minor injuries, and were taken to a local medical facility.
A helicopter belonging to the UN Peacekeeping mission in DRC, MONUSCO, was mobilized to evacuate them from Kamonia to Kananga (Kasai region), where an UNHAS plane was waiting to transfer them to the DRC capital, Kinshasa, for further treatment.
The cause of the crash is being investigated.
No statement was issued at the time of filing this report from the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority.
