UN
United Nations Peacekeeping
12 Mar
2013
UN helicopter accident in South Kivu
Kinshasa, 12 March 2013 – The UN Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) regrets to announce the death of the four crew members on board of one of its civilian helicopters that crashed on Saturday 09 March some 20 kilometers west of the city of Bukavu, South Kivu province.
Their deaths were confirmed Tuesday, 12 March, when a MONUSCO rescue team reached the crash site.
The helicopter went missing on Saturday, 09 March, when returning to Bukavu after a mission in Shabunda, in the South Kivu province.
The helicopter's wreckage was located on Sunday, 10 March, but severe weather conditions and the difficult terrain hampered the rescue operation.
The crew members were all Russian nationals.
The SRSG, Roger Meece, expressed his condolences for the death of the four crew members to the Russian Ambassador in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
An investigation into the cause of the accident is underway.
