This archive report was first published on 15 October 2019.
On October 15, 2019, search teams in the Democratic Republic of Congo made a significant discovery in their efforts to locate a missing government cargo plane.
The Antonov 72, 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.
According to Crispin Mukadi, a senior aid worker from the Catholic Relief Service, the wreckage was found in Sankuru province, in the centre of the country.
"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."
Two Russians were among the passengers, according to Moscow's embassy in Kinshasa.
Local villagers had reported that the local chief had ordered them to bury four bodies, including the decomposing body of a white person, Mukadi told AFP by phone.
