The airliner from Compagnie Africaine d'Aviation (CAA) was on a flight from Kinshasa with 117 passengers, including North Kivu Governor Julien Paluku Kahongya.  The aircraft over-ran the runway due to brake failure in wet conditions, and came to rest on a large pile of lava rock.

UN peacekeepers were quickly on the scene to help passengers leave the aircraft through exit slide doors, and to control a gathering crowd. Governor Paluku was unharmed.

About 20 passengers were transferred to MONUC hospital facilities in Goma and treated for minor injuries and shock. A MONUC firetruck doused the plane's fuming engines.

MONUC offices are close to the airport, and the Mission had been assisting a German-funded project to clear lava rock that had reduced the length of the runway since the Mt. Nyiragongo volcano erupted on January 17, 2002.

At the time, lava covered one third of the runway and much of the town of Goma. Hundreds of local workers and UN earthmoving equipment have been employed in clearing the rock from the airstrip since April of this year.

Goma International Airport serves as a supply hub for peacekeepers, humanitarian relief teams and deliveries in eastern Congo, as well as for regular domestic passenger flights.