At least 56 people, including a Lebanese, were killed when a passenger airplane with 118 on board has crashed at Kisangani airport in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

At least 56 people, including a Lebanese, were killed when a passenger airplane with 118 on board has crashed at Kisangani airport in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

On its regular commercial route from Kinshasa to Kisangani, the Boeing 727, operated by Hewa Bora, crashed after it hit the ground in a dense forest as it was attempting to land in heavy rainstorm.

"There are 56 bodies in the morgue (at Kisangani)," Hewa Bora Airways director Stavros Papaioannou told AFP news agency on Saturday.
"The toll may rise," said Papaioannou, with 38 people still in hospital.

Hussein Ali Khazaal, a Lebanese citizen, was among the dead people.
Khazaal, hails from the southern town of Ainata, was considered missing until his body was found, the head of the Lebanese Cultural University in the World Ahmed Nasser said.

Nasser added that Congolese authorities handed over Khazaal’s body to the Lebanese community there. It has started making arrangements to transport it to Beirut.

Papaioannou said earlier that “the pilot tried to land but apparently they didn't touch the runway”.

Plane accidents frequently occur in DR Congo, often blamed on ageing and poorly maintained aircraft, the flouting of safety rules and bad weather.
Hewa Bora is on a European Union list of airlines banned due to security concerns.