Plane crash in Congo .. 78 dead. CNN.COM Breaking

[DemoTex]

Nothing else yet ..

http://www.cnn.com/

DC-9 belonging to Hewa Bora Airways (based in Kinshasa).

[DemoTex]

1. DC-9 plane crashes into Congo neighborhood (MSNBC)

Plane hurtles into populated area after take-off; casualties not yet known

GOMA, Congo - Government officials say a DC-9 plane has crashed into a residential neighborhood in the eastern Congo town of Goma.

Julien Mpaluku, the governor of the province, says the plane faltered after takeoff and hurtled into the populated neighborhood.

A rescue team is on its way to the crash site. The number of dead or injured is not yet known.

The neighborhood of Birere, where the plane went down, is located just beyond the runway. The runway used to continue into the neighborhood, but was partially destroyed by lava from a 2001 volcanic eruption.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24125917/

[Itchinjim]

2. The DC-9 is the original version of the MD-80,

recently grounded by AA. Not a very good safety record BTW.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_DC-9

[DemoTex]

3. In fact, the MD-80 was first designated the DC-9-80.

I was an MD-80 captain, but my type-rating for the MD-80 says "DC-9".

[malaise]

7. Damn

How sad.

[DemoTex]

4. CNN.COM now reporting 83 passengers and crew dead in Goma, Congo.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/04/15/congo.crash/index.html

Article cites abyssmal aviation safety record in the Democratic Republic of Congo (10 aviation crashes since February 2007).

[lightningandsnow]

5. That is so sad.

:(

[DemoTex]

6. CNN.COM carrying IREPORT.COM video of crash site ..

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-11811

[DemoTex]

8. Congo crash survivor: God 'still has work for us to do' (Minnesota missionary)

A missionary family from Minnesota is glad to be alive and together after surviving a plane crash in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the father said Wednesday.

Barry and Marybeth Mosier were on their way to visit their son Keith, 24, in Kinsangani, Congo, with two younger children when their plane crashed on takeoff Tuesday in Goma. At least 36 people died as the plane plowed through a market and burned. Most of the people who died were on the ground, according to the U.N. mission in DR Congo.

"I think we'll keep praying about that. We know that the safest place in the world to work is where the Lord wants you to work."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/04/16/congo.crash.survivors/index.html

Congo plane crash kills 36, bodies in wreckage

The DC-9 was operated by a private Congolese airlines called Hewa Bora, which the European Union added to its blacklist of carriers only last week. Although all other Congo carriers had been previously banned by the EU, Hewa Bora operated a weekly flight to Belgium "under a special arrangement." That flight was halted last week because of safety violations.

Congolese authorities had not suspended the airline, but Ghonda said, "I'm quite sure they're going to" after Tuesday's crash.

The Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire, has a dismal aviation record. There have been 10 plane crashes in the nation since February of last year, resulting in 76 deaths -- not including Tuesday's crash -- according to Aviation Safety Network.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/04/16/congo.crashCNN3/index.html


" .. 10 plane crashes in the nation since February of last year, resulting in 76 deaths -- not including Tuesday's crash .."

Are all god's children so stupid? I cannot believe that an American missionary family would get on an airline BLACKLISTED by the EU, in a country with one of the worst aviation safety records in the world.