This archive report was first published on 15 October 2019.
On October 15, 2019, a major breakthrough was made in the search for a missing government cargo plane in the Democratic Republic of Congo. According to a senior aid worker, the wreckage of the Antonov 72 was found in Sankuru province, in the centre of the country.
The plane, which had been supplying equipment for a visit to Goma by President Felix Tshisekedi, disappeared with eight people aboard after taking off in bad weather from the eastern city of Beni on Thursday.
Crash site investigators, led by Crispin Mukadi from the Catholic Relief Service, discovered the wreckage seven kilometres from the village of Okoto, approximately 75 kilometres from the provincial capital Kole.
"I went there accompanied by a few villagers," Mukadi said. "I discovered a lot of debris from a plane. I saw a bit of a blue-and-white coloured plane carrying the number 72903."
"I went there accompanied by a few villagers," Mukadi said. "I discovered a lot of debris from a plane. I saw a bit of a blue-and-white coloured plane carrying the number 72903." — Crispin Mukadi, Catholic Relief Service
Local villagers had informed Mukadi that the local chief had ordered them to bury four bodies, including the decomposing body of a white person, he told AFP by phone.
The crash had occurred in an area not covered by the phone network, making communication with the outside world challenging.
Two Russians had been among the passengers, according to Moscow's embassy in Kinshasa.
