Cargo Plane Crashes Into Zairian Market, Killing About 250
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KINSHASA, Zaire — A cargo plane plunged onto a busy street just after takeoff Monday and tore through a crowded downtown market, mowing down cars, shacks and pedestrians in a fiery crash that killed about 250 people, and possibly more.
Black smoke billowed from the wreckage as soldiers covered victims’ bodies with white sheets. Calls went out over national radio and television for people to donate blood for the injured. The dead filled the city’s four main hospital morgues.
A U.S. Embassy official said he had unconfirmed reports of 300 dead. No official casualty count was released.
Four Russian crew members from the Russian-made Antonov-32 plane survived both the crash and an attempt later by an angry crowd to lynch them at a clinic where they were treated for minor injuries.
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