Rescue workers have recovered the bodies of 17 people killed when an aid plane crashed into a mountain in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo earlier this week, the United Nations said today.
The 19-seat Beechcraft aircraft, contracted by US-based Air Serv International, went down in bad weather on Monday around 15km northwest of the town of Bukavu, on Congo's eastern border with Rwanda.
"They have found all 17 bodies. They will be brought back to Bukavu today, weather permitting," a military spokesman for Congo's UN peacekeeping mission said.
He added that the plane's flight recorder had also been recovered from the wreckage.
Difficult mountainous terrain and bad weather initially hindered rescue efforts as peacekeepers struggled for three days to reach the site of the crash.
A copy of the passenger manifest seen by Reuters showed six foreigners were aboard: aid workers from France, India, Canada and neighbouring Congo Republic, and two pilots from South Africa and Britain.
The remaining 11 passengers were listed in the manifest as citizens of Democratic Republic of Congo.
In addition to the two-man crew, the flight was carrying aid workers from the Dutch branch of medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, Handicap International, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA and and the U.N. Development Programme.
Reuters