Second SA plane missing in the DRC
April 29 2006 at 12:36PM By Louis Oelofse
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click...8B214&set_id=1
A South African registered plane has gone missing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), only a day after two South African Pilots were killed when their plane crashed.
Peter Smerdon, spokesperson for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said on Saturday the search for the South African plane chartered by them was continuing.
"They resumed the search this morning but nothing was found yet," he said.
The
Contact with the Caravan light plane with two crew members and one passenger was lost early on Friday morning after taking off from Goma in the Eastern DRC. It was flying to Bunia.
A search for the missing plane was being co-ordinated by the UN Mission in the DRC.
The Pretoria News On Saturday quoted unnamed sources as saying the possibility that the plane was shot down was being investigated.
A spokesman for the owners of the plane confirmed that they heard the rumour but said it was difficult to determine exactly what happened.
The plane was flying to Bunia
On Friday the governor of the Maniema region, Koloso Sumaili, described what happened.
Meanwhile the South African Civil Aviation Authority was still waiting on Saturday for permission from the Congolese authorities to travel to the country and investigate the crash. "We heard nothing from the Congolese," spokesperson Phindiwe Gwebu said. - Sapa