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1996 Air Africa Antonov An-32 crash

1996 aviation accident in Zaire

Field	Value
Crash image	Antonov An-32B, Moscow Airways AN1115966.jpg
Image caption	RA-26222, the aircraft involved in the accident, pictured in 1994
name	1996 Air Africa Antonov An-32 crash
Date
Type	Runway overrun after failed takeoff
occurrence_type	Accident
Site	N'Dolo Airport, Kinshasa, Zaire
Coordinates
Occupants	6
Passengers	0
Crew	6
injuries	4
ground_injuries	500+
Survivors	4
Fatalities	2
aircraft_type	Antonov An-32B
Operator	Moscow Airways on behalf of Air Africa
tail_number	RA-26222
plane1_origin	N'Dolo Airport
plane1_destination	Kahemba Airport
total_fatalities	227-350
total_injuries	504+
ground_fatalities	225-348

On 8 January 1996, a Moscow Airways Antonov An-32B operating on behalf of Air Africa overran the runway at N'Dolo Airport after attempting to take off overloaded. The aircraft was flying from Kinshasa to Kahemba, Zaire. The aircraft ploughed into Kinshasa's Simbazikita street market. Four of the six crew of the aircraft survived the accident. On the ground, however, it is estimated that there were between 225 and 348 fatalities, with more than 500 people injured. It was the deadliest aviation accident in African history until the 2018 Algerian Air Force Ilyushin Il-76 crash, the deadliest to occur in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the deadliest accident in terms of ground fatalities, superseded only by the intentional crashes of American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 in the September 11 attacks.

Background

After decades of conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa, the air transport business is complex and often illegal. As Johan Peleman explained: {{blockquote| 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.}}It has been reported that this flight was carrying weapons to UNITA:

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.

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.

President Mobutu and Saolona both attended the funeral on 10 January 1996 at the Protestant Centenary Cathedral ().

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.

References

(8 February 1996). "A cargo plane crashes into a market in Kinshasa, Zaire, killing at least 350 people". South African History Online.
(11 April 2018). "Military Plane Crash Is Algeria's Worst Air Disaster, With 257 Dead". The New York Times.
Peleman, Johan. [http://www.iss.co.za/Pubs/BOOKS/Angola/15Peleman.pdf "The logistics of sanctions busting: the airborne component"] {{webarchive. link. (7 March 2007 , (PDF file), page 303)
[https://web.archive.org/web/20071002224813/http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/files/sas/publications/year_b_pdf/2001/2001SASCh3_full_en.pdf ''Small Arms Survey 2001: Profiling the Problem''], (PDF file), Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva, chapter 3, page 118
(28 February 2001). "An Airplane Crash into Type-K Ndolo Market: What Lesson for the Future?" (abstract)".
(9 January 1996). "Plane in Zaire hits Market, Killing 250". The New York Times.
"Zaire: Info-Zaire #111 (excerpts), 02/12/'96".
Henry, William. (13 June 2006). "The Forgotten Disaster in Zaire".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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