A South African Military aircraft crashed at an airport in Goma in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on 9th January 2019. There were however no fatalities of the 59 passengers and 8 crew on board, with only slight injuries being reported.
The flight was operated using a 57 year old South African Air Force Lockheed Martin C-130, but was in use by the United Nations (UN) mission in the DRC. A South African National Defence Force (SANDF) spokesperson said the plane had been deployed in the DRC as part of the UN Peacekeeping Mission, MONUSCO. He added that the C-130 from the South African Air Force was on its way back to Goma after having delivered supplies at Beni when the incident happened. The airplane's engine 1 caught fire, and the aircraft's left wing underwent substantial damage.
The African Defence Review Director Darren Oliver said: "Even if this C-130BZ is repairable, I doubt they will be able to afford to repair it on their meagre budget especially with the difficulty of replacing an outer wing section in an austere location like Goma." He also added by saying "This is part of the inherent risk of flying into some locations. Goma's runway is narrow and there's no safe runoff area to either side. If something goes wrong on landing, there's no space to recover and any runway excursion wrecks the aircraft."
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