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1998 Congo Airlines Boeing 727 crash

10 Oct 1998 · Lomami National Park, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Boeing 727-30 · Crashed into a jungle after being shot down

From Kindu Airport (KND) to Ndjili International Airport (FIH)

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Event

Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
Event fatalities
Unknown
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
Unknown
Survivors
0
InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
Unknown
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
Airline

Boeing 727-30

Aircraft type
Boeing 727
Category
Airplane · from aircraft type
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
9Q-CSG
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Kindu Airport (KND)To Ndjili International Airport (FIH)

Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.

From the Wikipedia article

On 10 October 1998, a Congo Airlines Boeing 727 flying a non-scheduled domestic passenger flight from Kindu to Kinshasa was shot down by rebel forces shortly after taking off. The plane later crashed in a jungle killing all occupants on board the aircraft.

Incident

On 10 October 1998, the aircraft was scheduled to fly from Kinshasa to Kindu with the departure scheduled at 7 a.m. UTC. After its arrival in Kindu, the aircraft was scheduled to depart for Kinshasa at 08:45. The flight left Kinshasa at 06:56 and arrived in Kindu at 08:26. At 08:51, the aircraft took off from Kindu Airport and subsequently turned left. Air traffic control (ATC) asked the pilot for his route, to which the pilot immediately relied that he had heard firing and would call back to confirm his report. The pilot then called back, confirming that the aircraft had been hit three minutes after takeoff, and issued an SOS that was heard at Mbuji-Mayi and by another aircraft. In the last contact, the pilot informed ATC that they planned on making an emergency landing around "Kisni point", located between Kindu and Lodja.

Investigation and cause

Investigation

Military sources reported that a missile had shot down the aircraft. Stavros Papaioannou, the president of Congo Airlines' management committee, said that in the pilot's last message, he had notified them that the plane's engines were on fire with the plane becoming uncontrollable and that he would attempt to land the aircraft "straight ahead of him. The missile had reportedly struck one of the aircraft's rear engines shortly after taking off.

Text from the Wikipedia article “1998 Congo Airlines Boeing 727 crash” (revision 1339300465, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article

Sources

Wikipedia article: 1998 Congo Airlines Boeing 727 crash
Article
1998 Congo Airlines Boeing 727 crash
Revision
1339300465 · 2026-02-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
Wikidata
Q4593756
Licence
Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
Record
Wikipedia article "1998 Congo Airlines Boeing 727 crash" (page 27362151, revision 1339300465)
Date
Wikipedia infobox: date
Place and country
Wikipedia infobox: site
Map position
none
Aircraft, operator and route
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
Operation
operator named as an airline in the infobox
Fatalities
not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
Ground fatalities
not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
Summary
Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
  • Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.