Breaking News (from skynews)
Plane Crash In Eastern Congo
Updated:15:16, Tuesday April 15, 2008
A passenger plane carrying up to 70 people has crashed into a residential area in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Crash in Goma, near Rwanda borderGovernment officials said a DC-9 plane hit the Birere neighbourhood in the town of Goma.
The crash happened when the flight faltered after take-off, according to Julien Mpaluku, the governor of the province.
A rescue team is on its way to the scene of the crash.
The number of dead or injured is not yet known.
"The plane appears to have missed its take-off and crashed in a populated neighborhood," said Mpaluku.
"As the plane has just now crashed, we have sent a team to the site to determine how many passengers were on board."
A spokesman for the UN mission in Congo, Kemal Saiki, said: "It is a plane from the company Hewa Bora with 60 to 70 passengers on board."
Birere is located just beyond the runway, which used to continue into the neighbourhood but was partially destroyed by lava from a volcanic eruption in 2002.
Democratic Republic of Congo has one of the world's worst aviation safety records.
There were eight plane crashes in the country last year, including one in the capital Kinshasa which killed more than 50 people.
More to follow...