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Hospital Partner Seeks Help After Plane Crash in Congo

Friday, 25 April 2008

 

Heal Africa, a hospital in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is seeking medical supplies and medicines to care for dozens of patients who flooded the hospital Tuesday, April 15, after a plane crashed near the city of Goma.

The plane, operated by Hewa Bora Airlines, crashed into a busy marketplace and village after aborting a takeoff attempt. At least 40 people were reported dead with more than 100 being treated for injures, reported the BBC.

Heal Africa, a modern 150-bed hospital less than two miles from the site, has been overwhelmed with victims. Dr. Bill Clemmer, a missionary with International Ministries, said the hospital needs “intravenous fluids, bandages and medicine.”

Clemmer, who leads a nationwide health programme called SANRU, assisting hospitals and health clinics to reach more than 12 million Congolese people, is leading a response team and continues to assess the situation.

Among the survivors were members of a missionary family serving in neighbouring Tanzania. Barry and Marybeth Mosier of Dodge Centre, Minn. USA, and their two children escaped the wreckage unscathed except for their 3-year-old son’'s broken leg. Their quick-thinking 14-year-old daughter, April, managed to flee the plane, along with many others, when she pried open a crack in the fuselage.

 Sources: American Baptist Churches, BBC, Assist News Service

* HCJB Global Voice works with local partners in the Democratic Republic of Congo to broadcast the gospel on Christian stations in Boma, Bukavu and Kinshasa. Programmes go out in English, French, Kikongo Fioti, Lingala, Luba and Swahili. Weekly programmes in the Songe and Kikongo San Salvador languages also air from local FM stations in the country.