Accessibility links

Breaking News

Congo Plane Crash Kills 30 Near Brazzaville


Rescue workers walk among the crash site of a cargo airplane near the airport at Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo on Dec. 1, 2012.
Rescue workers walk among the crash site of a cargo airplane near the airport at Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo on Dec. 1, 2012.
Emergency workers in the Republic of Congo say at least 30 people were killed when a cargo plane slammed into homes near Brazzaville's airport on Friday.

The victims included all six crew members of the Soviet-era cargo plane, as well as local people who were killed when the plane skidded off the runway and ploughed into a residential area.

Armenia's Foreign Ministry confirmed Saturday that the pilots were Armenian.

The plane, a four-engine jet freighter - a lyushin 76 - went down while trying to land at the Brazzaville Maya-Maya airport.

There was no official word on what caused the crash. Witnesses say the aircraft was trying to land during a violent storm.

The plane had earlier taken off from the western port city of Pointe-Noire.
  • 16x9 Image

    VOA News

    The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.

XS
SM
MD
LG