Congo plane crash kills 14, including top two military justice leaders

The crash and victims

A chartered military flight crashed near the southwestern city of Kenge on Friday, killing all 14 people on board. The small Antonov aircraft, operated by Congolese carrier Tracep Congo Aviation, was carrying senior judicial and armed forces leadership back to Kinshasa from an official mission in Kikwit. Among the dead were Lieutenant General Joseph Mutombo Katalayi Tiende, first president of the High Military Court, and Lieutenant General Lucien-René Bakumi Likulia, auditor general of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The remaining victims included 12 members of the accompanying official delegation, civilian passengers, and flight crew. Military authorities confirmed the total fatalities following preliminary reports from provincial administrators.

In addition to the two general officers, twelve members of the delegation and the crew members also lost their lives in this accident.

Flight path and emergency landing attempt

The two three-star generals had flown from the capital to Kikwit earlier on Friday to inspect newly constructed administrative buildings for the military court and the auditor general's office. A photograph taken at Kikwit airport captured the delegation preparing for the return leg 30 minutes before the disaster. While cruising toward Kinshasa at approximately 14:00 local time, the aircraft experienced severe mechanical difficulties. Witnesses in Kenge, the provincial capital of Kwango situated roughly 262 kilometres from Kinshasa by road, observed the plane struggling to maintain its heading in the sky.

With Kenge lacking an operational runway or landing strip, the crew attempted an emergency descent into an open space. The aircraft crashed around 14:15 into a grassy, unoccupied private plot within a residential area. Kwango provincial officials confirmed that no people on the ground were harmed by the impact.

With no landing strip available in Kenge, the plane crashed into a residential plot.

Crash site and recovery operations

The impact triggered a large fire that quickly consumed the fuselage, preventing local bystanders from approaching the wreckage. Emergency responders and local authorities recovered 12 charred bodies that were burned beyond recognition. The pilot was the only person on board whose body remained intact, found outside the burning wreckage before transport to a morgue. Kwango Deputy Governor Remy Saki Bokinda, acting in place of Governor Willy Bitwisila, coordinated the initial provincial response alongside military personnel.

All those on board died; 12 were burned beyond recognition, while the pilot's lifeless body was found outside the aircraft.

Inquiries and institutional context

The double loss of the High Military Court president and the armed forces auditor general removed the two highest-ranking leaders of Congo's military justice system. National aviation authorities and defense officials immediately initiated formal investigations into the mechanical failure. The Permanent Office of Inquiries into Aviation Accidents and Incidents dispatched a specialized investigative team to the crash site in Kwango province. Tryphon Kin-Kiey Mulumba, Chairman of the Board of the Civil Aviation Authority, noted that the precise technical cause of the incident remained undetermined. The disaster occurred while the Congolese military continued active operations against several rebel factions, including the Rwanda-backed M23 group in the eastern provinces.