Status:	Final
Date:	22 APR 1960
Time:	05:55 UTC
Type:	Douglas C-54A-DO
Operator:	Sobelair
Registration:	OO-SBL
C/n / msn:	3099
First flight:	1943
Total airframe hrs:	30594
Engines:	4 Pratt & Whitney R-2000-D-5
Crew:	Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 7
Passengers:	Fatalities: 28 / Occupants: 28
Total:	Fatalities: 35 / Occupants: 35
Airplane damage:	Destroyed
Airplane fate:	Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:	8 km (5 mls) SE of Bunia Airport (BUX) (Congo (Democratic Republic))
Phase:	Approach (APR)
Nature:	Int'l Non Scheduled Passenger
Departure airport:	Cairo International Airport (CAI/HECA), Egypt
Destination airport:	Bunia Airport (BUX/FZKA), Congo (Democratic Republic)

Narrative:
A Douglas C-54 passenger plane was destroyed in an accident near Bunia, D.R.Congo. All 28 passengers and seven crew members were killed.
The Sobelair flight departed Brussel (BRU), Belgium at 09:11, April 21, on a flight to Elizabethville (now named Lubumbashi). Intermediate stops were planned at Rome, Cairo and Bunia. The flight left Cairo, Egypt at 20:49.
While descending towards Bunia, the C-54 flew into the Pic de Bogoro, some 60 metres below the summit.

PROBABLE CAUSE (translated from original French report): The accident occurred because the pilot, the captain, carried out a descent while the height of cloud base (ceiling) was below the minimum required by the Administration and the Operator.

Events:

Sources:
» Rampen in België / Hans Van Riemsdijk, Christian Deglas