Presidential adviser among two dead in airplane crash

KINSHASA (AP):

A senior presidential adviser was among two killed after a private jet crashed while landing in Congo's eastern city of Bukavu, a transport minister said yesterday.

"We've extracted two bodies from the plane, that of the honourable Augustin Katumba Mwanke who has just been moved to the morgue, and that of a co-pilot," said Provincial Transport Minister Laban Kyalangalilwa. He said there were two pilots and 10 passengers on the private jet.

South Kivu Governor Marcellin Cishambo has been admitted to the hospital for emergency treatment, and most of the other passengers were taken from the plane alive, Kyalangalilwa said.

"We do not know the cause of the crash and we await the investigations, but apparently there was not bad weather here in Bukavu," he said.

Congo has one of the worst air safety records in the world. The Central African country's safety regulations are notoriously lax. Few passable roads traverse the country after decades of war, forcing the population to rely on ill-maintained planes and boats.