Kinshasa, November 18th, 2025 (CPA).-A thorough investigation has been launched to determine the causes of a plane crash in Kolwezi, a major mining town in the south-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, on board which the Minister in charge of Mines, Louis Watum, was travelling, according to a statement consulted on Tuesday by CPA.
‘A thorough investigation has been launched by the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo to determine the causes and precise circumstances of this accident, which occurred last Monday,’ indicated by the communications officer of the BPEA (Permanent Bureau of Aviation Accident and Incident Investigation).
According to the source, the Permanent Bureau of Investigation of Aviation Accidents and Incidents (BPEA) has wished to inform the public following ‘the accident that occurred on Monday November 17th, 2025 at Kolwezi airport involving an ERJ145 aircraft registered D2-AJB’. The aircraft is operated by AIR JET and chartered by the Ministry in charge of Mines. According to the source, the aircraft had departed from Angola for Kinshasa at N’djili International Airport at approximately 18:00 UTC, and then it had left Kinshasa for Lubumbashi at Luano Airport safely at approximately 03:00 UTC. Finally, the same aircraft had departed Lubumbashi at 09:00 for Kolwezi, arriving at 11:00 UTC at Kolwezi Airport, where it has skidded off the runway and caught fire, but there were no human losses. Furthermore, the BPEA understands the importance of this event and asks the public to be patient while it gathers and analyses all relevant information, including witness statements and technical data, in order to publish a comprehensive and objective report that will enable appropriate preventive measures to be put in place to prevent such an accident from happening again in the future. History tells us that 14 years ago in Kinshasa, on April 4th, 2011, a MONUSCO CRJ-100 aircraft flying between Kisangani and Kinshasa was crushed at N’djili Airport in Kinshasa, killing 32 people, including 28 passengers and 4 crew members. Only one passenger had survived. Adequate preventive measures must be put in place to prevent such an accident from happening again.