At least two Russian citizens were on board the An-72 transport plane that crashed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Russian Embassy in the country stated on Saturday. The diplomats have announced their names and have confirmed that officials are still searching for the aircraft in the jungles.
"There were Russian citizens on board the crashed An-72 plane: 1. Sadovnichiy Vladimir Vladimirovich, born on 07.02.1958; 2. Shumkov Vitaly Stepanovich born on 15.02.1955", the embassy wrote, adding that both were transport pilots.
The aircraft, which carried out flights at the request of DRC President Felix Tshisekedi, left the Goma International Airport on Thursday and was due to land in the DRC capital of Kinshasa, but went off radar. The authorities later confirmed it had crashed in the country's east.