Passengers sucked from Cargo plane. Reuters

[Guest Anglesault]

KINSHASA, Congo (May 9) - Scores of soldiers and their wives and children were sucked out of a cargo plane to their deaths after the aircraft's back ramp burst open over the Democratic Republic of Congo, a survivor said Friday.

 

The Russian-built jet was ferrying army personnel from Kinshasa to southern Katanga province late Thursday.

 

"I think there were about 200 people on board, soldiers and their families, women and children," said Prudent Mukalayi, a soldier recovering at Kinshasa's General Hospital. Mukalayi  said he survived because he was jammed against a luggage case.

 

"I was asleep and then I heard people screaming. When I woke up, the pilot told everyone to get to the front of the plane and there were about 40 of us, but people kept dying. ... There were only about 20 survivors."

 

A tight army guard was put around the military hospital where most survivors were being kept. Journalists were barred.

 

Congolese Information Minister Kikaya Bin Karubi said seven people were sucked from the plane. He told reporters the ramp of the Ilyushin 76 burst open about 10,000 feet over the city of Mbuji-Mayi.

 

The minister said he did not know how many people were aboard, but a Russian aviation official said he believed there were 129 passengers, a mixture of military officials and civilians.

 

A Congolese military pilot told Reuters members of a police rapid response force had demanded to board the plane at the last minute after it was already packed.

 

Witnesses at the airport said the plane looked old and run-down. The back door had snapped away.   

 

That's the actual incident. The rest is like air safety history. I can't even imagine this horror.

[Guest CED Ordonez]

Those twenty survivors will probably be traumatized about airplanes for the rest of their lives. I don't even want to think about what that incident would look like.

[Guest WhenDanSaysJump]

It's a fucking miracle that anyone survived.

[Guest ShooterJay]

That sounds like the worst, most horrifying and terrifying death imaginable. Like it was said, those people will be traumatized about planes forever, and who can blame them?

[Guest Choken One]

Wow. Just. Wow.

[Guest HartFan86]

Fuuuck.

[Guest evilhomer]

Dropping from 10,000 feet, holy shit.

[Guest Crux]

How awful--I wouldnt even want to imagine what was going through the minds who who fell to their deaths. *shudder* Thats just awful.

[Guest alkeiper]

Don't you pass out at some point?

[Guest Choken One]

Yep...Something on how the velocity and g forces would kill you before you hit ground...

[Guest Anglesault]

I guess that's a good thing.

[Guest the 1inch punch]

I dont even want to think of what happened once they hit the ground

[Guest Midnight Express83]

three things:

 

1: that is just fucking sick. I am sorry for those who past. And I am going on a plane soon, this doesn't make me feel too well.

 

2: The g forces would KO them 7000 feet in their fall.

 

3: When they hit the ground, dead on impact. So it wouldn't matter.

[Guest CED Ordonez]

Ukraine Denies Deaths in Congo Air Mishap

 

Disputing the witness accounts, Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Kostiantyn Khyvrenko said that about 40 seconds after takeoff from Kinshasa, the aircraft captain noted that the cabin was depressurizing, requested a landing and successfully returned the aircraft to the airport. He cited officials of the state-owned company that operates the aircraft, Ukrainian Cargo Airways.

 

 

"Neither the people, nor the cargo, nor the plane itself were hurt or damaged," Khyvrenko told The Associated Press in Kiev, Ukraine.

 

Way to go, Iraqi Minister of Information...I mean, Ukrainian Defense Minister.

[Guest SweetNSexyDiva]

Simply, that fucking sucks.