VOA常速英语2007-At Least 23 Dead in Congo Plane Crash

By Selah Hennessy
Dakar
04 October 2007

A cargo¹ plane has crashed into a residential² area near Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Officials say at least 23 people were killed, but it is unclear how many of the casualties were passengers and crew and how many were people on the ground. Selah Hennessy reports from the VOA West and Central Africa bureau in Dakar.

Alphonse Makaya lives in the Kingasani neighborhood, where the plane crashed.

Speaking from the site of the accident, he says the plane smashed into a group of houses on the ground, causing an explosion and flames.

He says before firefighters arrived, civilians³ were trying to put out the fire.

Eddy⁴ Isango is a Kinshasa-based journalist who was at the scene of the accident.

He saw emergency workers taking bodies from the plane and bringing injured people to the hospital.

"Head workers told me that they brought to the hospital three injured people, but also eight dead people that they took from the plane," said Eddy Isango.

He said it was impossible to know how many people had died on the ground, because the fire created by the crash was causing mayhem.

"There is still a confusion, because there is still an emergency there because the houses are being destroyed," he said.

He says the Soviet-era cargo plane, an Antonov-26, crashed only a few minutes after take-off.

The plane belonged to Congolese airline Africa One. It is one of more than 50 Congolese airline companies banned in Europe, due to safety concerns.

Congo has one of the worst reputations for air travel in Africa. The African Airlines Association says the country has been responsible for at least half the continent's air crashes in the past decade.

1 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

2 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

3 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

4 eddy   

n.漩涡，涡流

参考例句：

• The motor car disappeared in eddy of dust.汽车在一片扬尘的涡流中不见了。
• In Taylor's picture,the eddy is the basic element of turbulence.在泰勒的描述里，旋涡是湍流的基本要素。