Fourteen people, including two senior military officials, died on Friday when a Congolese army plane crashed in Kenge after suffering a technical fault during a flight from Kikwit to Kinshasa. The aircraft came down in a residential area, leaving no survivors among the occupants.
An army plane traveling to the capital city of Kinshasa crashed in Kenge on Friday, killing everyone on board. The flight originated in the southwestern city of Kikwit before it developed a technical fault and attempted to land in Kenge, in Kwango province, according to local officials.
Emergency Landing in a Residential Plot Without a Runway
Remy Saki Bokinda, deputy governor of Kwango, explained that no landing strip available in Kenge
forced the aircraft down into a residential plot, where debris and fiery wreckage were left strewn across the crash site. Military authorities later confirmed that 14 people lost their lives in the disaster.
Top Military Court Leaders and Auditor General Among Victims
The tragedy claimed the lives of several high-ranking members of the nation’s armed forces. The victims included Lieutenant General Mutombo Katalayi Tiende, who served as head of the military court, and Lieutenant General Bakumi Likulia, the auditor general of the armed forces as confirmed by military reports.
Major General Efomi Ekenge, spokesperson for the Congolese military, detailed the personnel manifest in an official statement released following the disaster.
Pilot Found Outside Wreckage
Ekenge added that 12 of the victims suffered burns beyond recognition, and the pilot’s lifeless body was found outside the aircraft in the wreckage.
Official Inquiries and Ongoing Eastern Security Operations
Authorities have initiated formal inquiries to establish the exact sequence of events that caused the aircraft to fail. Ekenge stated that an investigation has been opened to determine the cause of the accident, though Tryphon Kin-Kiey Mulumba, Chairman of the Board of the Civil Aviation Authority, noted that the underlying circumstances remain unknown.
The fatal flight occurred while the Congolese armed forces remain heavily engaged in security operations across the nation’s eastern provinces. The military has spent the past year battling multiple rebel factions, including the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group, which seized control of several key cities following a series of offensives.