Verified video shows plane catching fire at DRC airportpublished at 10:55 GMT
10:55 GMT
Peter Mwai, Emma Pengelly and Fridon Kiria
BBC Verify and BBC Monitoring
Image source, X/AirMainEngineerImage caption,
A screengrab from one of the videos shows the aircraft off the runway and the rear of the fuselage on fire
We have verified video of the aftermath of a passenger plane going off the runway and catching fire at an airport yesterday in the south of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The plane was carrying the country’s mines minister Louis Watum Kabamba to Kolwezi airport in Lualaba region, who was due to travel on to a nearby cobalt mine where 32 people died on Saturday in a bridge collapse.
The minister and a delegation of about 20 were unharmed in the plane blaze, a spokesperson for Kabamba told local media.
One verified video, filmed by a passenger inside, shows the aircraft approaching the Kolwezi airport for landing from the east.
Another clip shows an evacuation underway, including people being urged to hurry up as the person filming exits the plane. Once they manage to get outside, parts of the aircraft are already on fire and other passengers are still escaping.
Other videos have been filmed from a distance and we can hear the people filming mentioning the location as the airport in Lualaba and the incident having involved the mines minister.
A final video we’ve verified is of firefighters battling the blaze, with still images taken after it was extinguished show the fuselage has burned down.