United Nations: Three United Nations staff members were among the handful of survivors in the plane crash in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that killed dozens of people, the UN peacekeeping mission to the country said.

The mission, known as MONUC, said a Hewa Bora Airlines plane yesterday smashed into a crowded market soon after take-off from the airport at Goma, close to the border with Rwanda.

The Kinshasa-bound flight was carrying an estimated 80 passengers and six crew members.

Radio Okapi reported the plane experienced technical difficulties during the take-off and briefly reached an altitude of 100 metres before it crashed into the densely populated Birere suburb of Goma and burst into flames. Though rescue workers have recovered 21 bodies from the crash site, nearly all on board are reported to have died.

MONUC peacekeepers, fire brigades, ambulance crews, medical staff and first-aid providers were dispatched immediately to the site to help local authorities give treatment to the injured and evacuate victims to a UN hospital.

The mission said the few survivors include two international staff with the UN Children's Fund, one of whom is in critical condition; one national staff member with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the spouse of an OCHA national staff member.

The pilot, his co-pilot and a flight attendant are also believed to have survived.

The DRC has long had an extremely poor aviation safety record and last week the European Union added Hewa Bora Airlines to its blacklist of carriers banned from flying into its air space.
Source : PTI