At 10,000 feet the door flipped open and scores of passengers were sucked out

[fwgx]

More than 120 people were reported to have been sucked to their deaths in an extraordinary incident when the giant back door of a Russian-built transport aircraft flipped open as it flew 10,000 feet over the Democratic Republic of Congo late on Thursday.

Forty-five minutes after takeoff from the capital, Kinshasa, the plane's door slid open, catapulting bodies and baggage from its cavernous interior, according to one of the few surviving passengers.

"I think there were about 200 people on board, soldiers and their families, women and children," said Prudent Mukalayi, a soldier recovering at Kinshasa's main hospital.

"I was asleep, and then I heard people screaming. When I woke up the pilot told everyone to get to the front of the plane and there were about 40 of us, but people kept dying ... there were only about 20 survivors," said Mr Mukalayi, who said he survived having wedged himself behind a packing case before falling asleep.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/congo/stor...953212,00.html