‘DRC plane crash: UN confirms death toll’

by Jon Thompson on September 4, 2008

South Africa’s IOL News has a story about a tragic plane crash in the DRC which claimed the lives of all 17 people onboard.  The flight was operated by AirServ.org which we highlighted a few weeks back.  Members of the UNDP, OCHA, MSF, Handicap International and the DRC parliament were onboard when the plane crashed northwest of Bukavu in eastern DRC.  Airserv.org has issued a press release.  From the article:

Kinshasa – All 17 people aboard a humanitarian aid plane died when it crashed into a mountain in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the UN peacekeeping mission in the country confirmed Wednesday.

The victims included a Canadian member of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), an Indian employed by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid, a French national and a national of neighbouring Congo who worked for Paris-based Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF – Doctors Without Borders).

The others on the plane were all from the DRC.

According to the UN, four worked for the UNDP, three for the non-government organisation Handicap International and four were civil servants working in the DRC parliament.

Read on…

Our thoughts are with the friends and family members of those lost in the crash.

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