Kinshasa - A cargo plane carrying
presidential staff crashed in eastern Congo on Thursday, and all
eight passengers and crew are feared dead, a presidential
adviser told Reuters on Friday.
The plane, carrying President Felix Tshisekedi's driver, a
logistics manager and some soldiers, was headed from Goma to the
capital Kinshasa and went off radar on Thursday afternoon, an
hour after departing, a statement from the civil aviation
authority said.
Debris of the plane has been found but the passengers are
still missing, said adviser Vidiye Tshimanga. He had told
Reuters earlier on Friday that eight bodies had been found but
said that information was incorrect.
The cause of the accident was not yet clear.
Local media showed a crowd of hundreds of Tshisekedi
supporters hitting the streets of Kinshasa after the news broke
on Friday morning, fearing that the plane crash had been some
kind of failed coup attempt against Tshisekedi. The president
took over from long-standing former President Joseph Kabila this
year.
No information immediately backed up such a claim.