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KINSHASA, Congo (AP) _ A plane crashed in a thunderstorm as it was attempting to land in the Congo Friday, killing at least 48 people, and leaving a dozen or more buried in the wreckage. 53 passengers survived.
``I confirm the crash of one of our planes,‘’ said Stavros Papaioannou, the chairman and CEO of Hewa Bora Airways told The Associated Press by telephone. ``There are already 46 bodies at the morgue, and another two that just died in the hospital.‘’
He added that a ``dozen or more‘’ people were still stuck inside the plane, which was heading from the giant Central African nation‘s capital to Kisangani in the country’s northeast.
Government spokesman Lambert Mende said the plane went down in bad weather a few yards (meters) from Kisangani airport. ``It was due to the thunder,‘’ he said. ``There are around 50 dead and 53 survivors, as well as a dozen people still unaccounted for.‘’
Hewa Bora, which means ``Fresh Air‘’ in Swahili, has a history of crashes. In April 2008, one of their DC-9s rammed into a bustling market after failing to lift off from Goma‘s airport, killing at least 40 people _ most of them on the ground.
A few months later in September, a Hewa Bora plane carrying 17 people went down in inclement weather killing all on board.
Congo has one of the worst air safety records in the world. Few passable roads traverse the country after decades of war and corrupt rule, forcing the country’s deeply impoverished people to rely on ill-maintained planes and boats to move around.
<한글기사>
콩코서 여객기 추락..127명 사망
(킨샤사 신화.로이터=연합뉴스) 승객과 승무원 178명을 태운 여객기가 8일 민주 콩고의 키산가니 국제공항에서 악천후 속에 착륙을 시도하다 추락해 127명이 숨졌다 고 민주콩고 교통부가 밝혔다.
나머지 51명은 활주로에서 약 200ｍ 떨어진 사고 현장 주변에서 구조됐다고 교 통부는 덧붙였다.
앞서 사고기를 운항한 `헤와 보라' 항공 측이 사고 항공기에는 110명이 탑승했 으며 이 중 53명이 숨지고 57명이 살았다고 밝혀 사망자 수에 혼선이 빚어졌다.
이에 대해 귀들레 부알랴 교통부 대변인은 항공사 측이 탑승객 수를 제대로 알 리지 않았다고 해명했다.
정부 대변인 램버트 멘데는 "비행기가 폭우 속에 착륙을 시도했으나 활주로에서 조금 못 미친 곳으로 추락했다"고 말했다.
'헤와 보라' 항공의 스타브로스 파파이오아누 최고경영자(CEO)는 "기장이 착륙 을 시도했지만, 활주로에 이르지 못한 것으로 보인다"고 말했다.
사고기는 보잉 727기종이며, '헤와 보라' 항공은 유럽연합(EU)이 안전상의 이유 로 이용을 금지한 항공사로 분류돼 있다.
