2019 Busy Bee Congo crash

In October 2018, a passenger plane on route to Kinshasa crashed an hour after taking off from Goma in the province of Sankuru killing eight passengers and crew.[5] The aircraft was carrying 17 passengers and two crew members.[6] The flight was scheduled from Goma to Beni airport, about 350 kilometres (220 mi; 190 nmi) to the north. The airline operating the plane, Busy Bee Congo, was founded in 2007 and uses Goma as the base for its fleet of Dornier 228s.[5] Due to lack of funds, poverty, lack of oversight, and corruption in government, airline safety in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, especially among local low-price carriers, is infamously lax with all the local carriers banned from operating in the European Union.[6]

According to reports the aircraft took off from the airport but suffered engine failure and crashed less than a minute after take off. Witnesses describe the plane spinning three times as it crashed with thick black smoke coming from the engines. The aircraft violently burst in flames after impact in one of the densely populated areas of the city, the fire preventing locals from helping victims caught in the blaze.[6]

19 people on board were killed on impact. One source reports that 2 passengers managed to be pulled from the blaze.[5] The BBC reports that 9 casualties on the ground all came from one family.[6]