A Lignes Aériennes Congolaises jetliner is shot down by rebels in Kindu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing 41 people.

Lignes Aériennes Congolaises (LAC) was the flag carrier of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was established in 1997 to succeed the folded Air Zaïre. Halting operations in 1999, it was reactivated for a short period in 2002, only to fold operations permanently in 2003.

On 10 October 1998, a Congo Airlines Boeing 727 flying a non-scheduled domestic passenger flight from Kindu to Kinshasa was shot down by rebel forces shortly after taking off. The plane later crashed in a jungle killing all occupants on board the aircraft.

Kindu is a city in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the capital of Maniema province. It has a population of about 200,000 and is situated on the Lualaba River at an altitude of about 500 metres, and is about 400 km west of Bukavu.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply Congo, or more infrequently Zaire is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is the second-largest country in Africa and the 11th-largest in the world. With a population of around 112 million, the DR Congo is the most populous nominally Francophone country in the world. French is the official and most widely spoken language, though there are over 200 indigenous languages. The national capital and largest city is Kinshasa, which is also the economic center. The country is bordered by the Republic of the Congo, the Cabinda exclave of Angola, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the west; the Central African Republic and South Sudan to the north; Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania to the east; and Zambia and Angola to the south. Centered on the Congo Basin, most of the country's terrain is covered by dense rainforests and is crossed by many rivers, while the east and southeast are mountainous.