Confusion over DRC crash casualties

Most passengers on a plane that crashed in the Democratic Republic of Congo have survived, according to reports.

The Congolese airline Hewa Bora said the majority of the 79 passengers on the airliner that came down in the eastern town of Goma survived along with seven crew members.

Dirk Cramers, a director of the airline, said: "We have managed to save most of the passengers, who have been evacuated to hospitals."

Earlier reports from the Congolese Red Cross and local officials suggested at least 60 people had died in the accident.

The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 crashed in the Birere market area of Goma, the capital of the eastern North Kivu province, shortly after take-off.

Mr Cramers said 21 people were killed on the ground, while North Kivu governor Julien Paluku, who earlier said only six people on board the plane had survived, said 19 bodies were recovered from the market and 76 people were in hospital.

Residents reported hearing a big explosion and seeing a large plume of smoke with one saying: "Half of the plane has broken off. There is a fire towards the back. People are coming with buckets of water to put out the fire."

The woman added: "The UN is here trying to keep back the crowds. It destroyed a building. The two buildings next door are blackened."

The DRC, a vast country the size of western Europe with only a few hundred miles of paved roads, has one of the world's worst aviation safety records. In 2007 there were eight plane crashes, including one in the capital Kinshasa in which an Antonov 26 plunged into a crowded neighbourhood, killing more than 50 people.

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