Mid-air tragedy: People sucked out of plane in Congo

‘‘I think there were about 200 people on board, soldiers and their families, women and children,’’ said Prudent Mukalayi, a soldier recovering at Kinshasa’s general hospital. He said he survived because he was jammed against a luggage case.

‘‘I was asleep and then I heard people screaming. When I woke up, the pilot told everyone to get to the front of the plane and there were about 40 of us, but people kept dying…there were only about 20 survivors.’’

A tight Army guard was put around the military hospital where most survivors were being kept. Journalists were barred. Information Minister Kikaya Bin Karubi told reporters the ramp of the Ilyushin 76 had burst open at about 10,000 feet over the city of Mbuji-Mayi.

He did not know how many people were aboard the plane, but a Russian aviation official said he believed there were 129 passengers, a mixture of military officials and civilians.

A Congolese military pilot told Reuters members of a police rapid response force had demanded to board the plane at the last minute after it was already packed. Witnesses at the airport said the plane looked old and run-down. The back door had snapped away.

Officials said the Army and the government often chartered cargo planes to transport military personnel and civil servants, many with their families, between Kinshasa and Lubumbashi — Congo’s second-biggest city and home to a big military base.

The ruined state of Congo’s road network means that long-distance journeys have to be made by air, though many aircraft are old and badly maintained. The four-engined Ilyushin 76 is a versatile transport aircraft widely used in Africa, the Middle East, India and China, and remains in service despite its age because of the shortage of cargo aircraft worldwide. (Reuters)