The article below is par for the course when it comes to Sub-Saharan
airlines. The Lockheed L-188 Electra now carries cargo mostly, but in the
Dark Continent, the natives are packed aboard SRO, and folklore is rich with
tales about, when a fuselage is full, those with only a few shillings to
spend will be stuffed into the baggage compartments as "freight", meaning
that on takeoff these 50-year-old airframes are carrying two or more times
the number of passengers they were designed for. "Many private airlines
operate out of Zaire, with relatively few controls over safety and
maintenance." Of course, most aren't FAA-certified. "There have been a
spate of plane crashes in the region recently." As long as all those
involved are native Africans, it's no big loss. More details:
http://tinyurl.com/jrxpn87
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Mystery surrounds Angola plane crash victims
KINSHASA (Dec 20, 1995 - 09:17 EST) - The identity of 139 people killed when
a Zairean charter flight crashed in northern Angola on Monday remained a
mystery two days after the world's worst air disaster of 1995.
An Angolan government official said on Wednesday the plane crashed in
Angola's Lunda Norte province near the Zairean border and may have been on
charter to Jonas Savimbi's opposition UNITA movement.
Zaire's transport minister, Alexis Thambwe Mwamba, said 139 of the 144
people on Monday's flight from Kinshasa had been killed. Doctors said four
of the survivors were in intensive care with serious burns.
"There were 139 people on board, plus five crew. There were only five
survivors," Thambwe Mwamba told Reuters on Tuesday.
A ministry official said most of the dead were Angolans but had no further
details. Thambwe Mwamba had no precise details on where the plane went down,
its destination or on the identity of the passengers.
Lunda Norte governor Moises Ndele told Angolan state radio the plane had
crashed in the UNITA-controlled Cuango area of the province.
"The plane could have been rented by UNITA coming from Zaire via Damba,
which is a region under UNITA's control in Uige province.
"The plane crashed around the Cuango area, an area under UNITA control," he
said, adding that aircraft from Zaire frequently landed at an airstrip close
to the town of Luzamba.
Another theory suggested a link with the diamond trade.
Many of the diamonds produced in Angola's remote Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul
regions are smuggled out via Zaire and large numbers of Zaireans regularly
travel to eastern Angola to dig for diamonds or buy them to sell.
For many years Zaire was accused of supporting Savimbi's UNITA rebels, who
controlled much of the diamond area but have since agreed a peace deal with
the government in Luanda.
Many private airlines operate out of Zaire, with relatively few controls
over safety and maintenance. In May 1994, Zaire's acting foreign minister
and a Tunisian presidential aide were among nine people killed in a crash on
the approach to Kinshasa's Ndjili airport.
A transport ministry official said the plane used for Monday's charter
flight was an Electra, based at Ndjili and owned by Trans Service Airlift, a
private company.
Officials could not say what caused the crash but Thambwe Mwamba said an
inquiry was under way. "I also have to speak to the owner of TSA, who is a
Belgian. I hope we should know more in the next few days," he said.
Hospital staff said five survivors were flown to Kinshasa on Tuesday and
four were in intensive care in Ngaliema clinic.
"They have been badly burned and their condition is serious. At this stage
they are unable to talk," a doctor said.
A fifth survivor, the co-pilot, had been taken away by his family. Five
corpses were also brought back from Angola.
Reference books suggest the largest Electra, a plane built by Lockheed,
entered service worldwide in 1959 with an intended capacity of 99 passengers
or 12 tonnes of cargo.
There have been a spate of plane crashes in the region recently. On December
3 a Cameroon Airlines Boeing 737 crashed as it came into land at Cameroon's
Douala port, killing 72 people.
In Nigeria's latest accident last month, a Nigeria Airways Boeing 737
crashed on landing at Kaduna airport in the north, killing nine people and
injuring 44.
Before Monday's crash, the worst air disaster of 1995 involved a Russian
Aeroflot Tu-154 which disappeared on December 7 with 97 people on board. The
wreckage was found on Monday inland from the Tatar Strait.
http://www2.nando.net/newsroom/ntn/w...orld556_3.html