A plane crash in Congo’s Kwango province killed at least 13 people, including senior military officials, the Congolese military said Friday, as the aircraft attempted an emergency landing after developing a technical fault.
Death toll figures varied slightly across accounts, with some reports citing 14 dead and others 13, while one account described more than 10 killed without providing a precise figure, discrepancies that had not been resolved as of the latest reporting. Congolese military spokesperson Maj. Gen. Efomi Ekenge said in a statement that, in addition to senior officers, 12 members of a delegation and crew members also died in the crash.
Accounts also differed on how many senior military officials were among the dead and their identities. Ekenge identified two senior officers killed as Lt. Gen. Mutombo Katalayi Tiende, head of the military court, and Lt. Gen. Bakumi Likulia, auditor general of the armed forces. A separate account citing Kwango Vice Governor Remy Saki Bokinda named only Likulia among the senior officers, describing the broader military contingent as including a major, a captain and other personnel, with no mention of Tiende. That discrepancy in the identities and number of senior officials killed had not been resolved as of the latest reporting.
What We Know So Far
The plane was traveling to the capital, Kinshasa, from the southwestern city of Kikwit when it developed a technical problem and attempted to land in Kenge, in Kwango province, according to Bokinda. He said Kenge has no landing strip, and the aircraft crashed into a residential plot after circling the area multiple times as the crew searched for a suitable place to land.
Bokinda said everyone aboard died, with 12 victims burned beyond recognition and the pilot’s body found outside the wreckage. He said no one in the residential compound struck by the aircraft was injured. “Fortunately, none of the occupants of the compound were harmed,” Bokinda said.
The aircraft was identified by one outlet as a Let L-410 UVP Turbolet, a twin engine aircraft commonly used for regional passenger and utility flights, though details about the plane’s operator were not immediately available. Tryphon Kin-Kiey Mulumba, chairman of Congo’s Civil Aviation Authority board, said the cause of the crash remains unknown. Congo’s aviation accident investigation authority has opened a formal probe, according to a government statement, and Ekenge said a military investigation has also been launched to determine the cause of the accident.
Why This Matters
The crash represents a significant loss for Congo’s military leadership given the loss of at least one, and possibly two, senior generals, including the head of the military court and the armed forces’ auditor general, roles central to military justice and financial oversight. The loss comes at a particularly difficult moment for Congo’s armed forces, which have faced significant setbacks over the past year against the Rwanda backed AFC/M23 rebel group, which seized large swaths of territory in the country’s east after a rapid series of attacks.
The circumstances of the crash, an aircraft diverting to a location with no landing strip after developing a technical fault, and then crashing into a residential area after failing to find a safe landing spot, highlight broader aviation safety and infrastructure challenges in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where difficult terrain and limited infrastructure frequently complicate air operations, particularly outside major urban centers.
What Happens Next
Both Congo’s aviation accident investigation authority and a separate military investigation are underway to determine the precise cause of the crash, examining the aircraft’s condition, its approach to Kenge, the crew’s actions and other contributing factors. Authorities have not released a full passenger manifest or a final, confirmed death toll, and it remains unclear how many people were aboard the aircraft in total.
Given the loss of senior military legal and oversight officials, Congo’s armed forces are likely to face questions about succession within those roles as the investigation into the crash proceeds. Further details on the victims and the crash’s cause are expected as emergency responders and investigators continue their work at the site.
Reporting drawn from the Associated Press, Reuters, the Mirror and SaharaReporters
