1996 Air Africa Antonov An-32 crash

The crash of an An-32B occurred on 8 January when an overloaded Zairese Air Africa aircraft, bound for Kahemba Airport, overshot the runway at N'Dolo Airport in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) after failing to take off and ploughed into Kinshasa's Simbazikita street market. Four of the six crew of the aircraft that had been wet leased from Moscow Airways, managed to survive. On the ground, however, there were between 225 and 348 fatalities and about 253 significant injuries. This crash remains the deadliest in African history, and also one with the most ground fatalities of any air disaster in history, superseded only by the intentional crashes of American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 in the September 11 attacks.

1996 Air Africa crash
RA-26222, the aircraft that crashed.
Accident
Date8 January 1996 (1996-01-08)
SummaryRunway overrun after failed takeoff
SiteN'Dolo Airport
Kinshasa, DRC (then Zaire)
4.3295°S 15.318°E / -4.3295; 15.318
Total fatalities227-348
Total injuriesApprox. 500 (253 serious; est.)
Aircraft
Aircraft typeAntonov An-32B
OperatorMoscow Airways on behalf of Air Africa
RegistrationRA-26222
Flight originN'Dolo Airport
DestinationKahemba Airport
Occupants6
Passengers0
Crew6
Fatalities2
Survivors4[1]
Ground casualties
Ground fatalities225–348
Ground injuries500+ (253 serious)

Background

After decades of conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa, the air transport business is complex and often illegal. As Johan Peleman explained:

The relationship between the charterers, who operate the plane, the shipping agent who organises the delivery for his clients and the company that actually owns the plane, is often very complex. This makes it difficult to see which of the contracting parties is actually responsible for the illegal aspects of the transactions. The Antonov that crashed in Kinshasa in January 1996 was operated by African Air. The company had rented the plane and crew from Scibe CMMJ, the company of Bemba Saolona. Scibe's Belgium based sales agent had leased the plane to the company in Zaïre. The Belgian company in turn had contracted with Moscow Airways.[2]

It has been reported that this flight was carrying weapons to UNITA:

Scibe Airlift, an airline owned by Bemba Saolona and (at least in 1985) Mobutu himself (Forbes, 18 November 1985), was also found to be transporting arms to UNITA when, in January 1996, an Antonov 32 crashed on take-off from Kinshasa en route to Angola, killing an estimated 370 people (Agence France Presse, 10 January 1996). The aircraft and crew, chartered by African Air from Scibe, had, in turn, been leased from Moscow Airways through Scibe's sales agent, Scibe CMMJ, in Ostend (The Washington Post, 21 March 1997).[3]

Crash

While attempting to take off fully fuelled and overloaded from N'Dolo Airport's short runway, the An-32B did not achieve sufficient speed to bring its nose up, yet began to lift. It crashed into the open-air Simbazikita produce market, full of shacks, pedestrians and cars, and its full fuel load ignited. The number of casualties cited varies from 225 (per the manslaughter charges) to 348.[4]

Aftermath

The first injured went to the Mama Yemo Hospital (now Kinshasa General Hospital), which was quickly overwhelmed. Two other hospitals took the additional victims. A worker with the International Committee of the Red Cross, Vincent Nicod, stated that 217 bodies were found at the market, in addition to 32 more bodies possibly already at morgues within the city.[5]

President Mobutu and Saolona both attended the funeral on 10 January 1996 at the Protestant Centenary Cathedral (French: Cathédrale du Centenaire).[6]

The Russian pilots, Nicolai Kazarin and Andrei Gouskov, were charged and convicted of manslaughter, each receiving the maximum two-year sentence. At trial, they admitted they were using borrowed clearance papers from Scibe Airlift, that they knew the flight was illegal, and that the flight was actually bound for Angola. Scibe Airlift and African Air paid fines of US$1.4 million to the families and the injured.[7]

References
  1. "A cargo plane crashes into a market in Kinshasa, Zaire, killing at least 350 people". South African History Online. 8 February 1996. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
  2. Peleman, Johan. "The logistics of sanctions busting: the airborne component" Archived 7 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine, (PDF file), page 303
  3. Small Arms Survey 2001: Profiling the Problem, (PDF file), Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva, chapter 3, page 118
  4. "An Airplane Crash into Type-K Ndolo Market: What Lesson for the Future?" (abstract)". pdm.medicine.wisc.edu. 28 February 2001. Archived from the original on 28 February 2001. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  5. "Plane in Zaire hits Market, Killing 250". The New York Times. Reuters. 9 January 1996. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  6. "Zaire: Info-Zaire #111 (excerpts), 02/12/'96". www.africa.upenn.edu. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  7. Henry, William (13 June 2006). "The Forgotten Disaster in Zaire". Archived from the original on 30 September 2007.
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