Medical agency: Gunmen fire on plane with international aid workers landing in east Congo

Gunmen fire on plane carrying aid workers in Congo

JOHANNESBURG — An American medical agency says gunmen in eastern Congo fired on a private plane carrying international aid workers who have escaped into the forest and are in hiding.

The Los Angeles-based International Medical Corps says U.N. peacekeepers are en route to save the three Americans and one Georgian who were on the aircraft and two Congolese staff who were at the landing strip outside Walikale mining town when the shooting erupted.

The agency’s regional director Miel Hendrickson says Wednesday’s attack comes a few weeks after a pilot was kidnapped at Walikale airport.

The aid workers are in a team treating scores of people raped over four days of attacks by rebels in villages about 40 miles (70 kilometers) from Walikale.