Costermansville – Léopoldville

On February 4, 1952 at 12:07 PM, Costermansville – Léopoldville experienced a crash involving Douglas C-47 Skytrain (DC-3), operated by SABENA - Société Anonyme Belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation Aérienne, with the event recorded near Kikwit Bandundu.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was flight at a plain, valley crash site.

16 people were known to be on board, 16 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 3, crew fatalities: 3, passengers on board: 13, passenger fatalities: 13, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. At 1205LT, while overflying the Kasai province, the aircraft suffered a technical problem on the right engine where a propeller blade separated and went through the cabin. The airplane went out of control, nosed down and crashed two minutes later in the forest of Dibata located about 20 km from Kikwit. All 16 occupants were killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration OO-CBN, MSN 13450, year of manufacture 1944.