posted on May 9, 2003 10:53:51 AM new
KINSHASA, Congo (May 9) - Scores of soldiers with their wives and children were sucked out of a cargo plane to their deaths over the Democratic Republic of Congo Friday after the aircraft's back ramp burst open, a survivor said.
Congo's information minister said seven people were sucked out of the Russian-built plane ferrying military personnel from Kinshasa to the southern Katanga province. He said he did not know how many were on board.
''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, who said he survived because he was jammed against a packing 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.''
Information Minister Kikaya Bin Karubi told reporters the ramp burst open at 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.
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Can anyone figure out what the total fatalities on this plane were? This has got to be the worst case of reporting I have seen in a while.
