Posted on 05/09/2003 5:46:21 AM PDT by InvisibleChurch
Scores die in freak air tragedy More than 120 people are feared dead in the Democratic Republic of Congo after being sucked out of a cargo plane.
Military officials are quoted as saying that the rear ramp of a plane became detached soon after it had taken off from the capital, Kinshasa, on an internal flight.
Airport sources told the BBC in Kinshasa that only the Russian crew members survived.
The accident took place on Thursday night at an altitude of some 7,000 feet (2,200 metres) about 45 minutes after the plane took off.
The plane had been chartered by the military and was flying from Kinshasa to Congo's second city, Lubumbashi.
The Russian crew was able to turn the Ilyushin 76 around and land at Kinshasa airport following the incident.
A senior air force officer said an inquiry was under way.
There has not yet been any official comment from the government.
The BBC's Mark Dummett in Kinshasa says there are often plane accidents in the vast country.
He says the poor state of the roads and the terrible state of the economy means any journey over distance requires a hair-raising ride in a poorly-maintained aircraft.
Many are old Soviet military planes, with passengers and cargo crammed in the back.
me thinks the door opened and the pasengeros just de-planed.
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