The Airbus A310 cargo plane suffered a runway excursion after landing at Mbuji-Mayi Airport (MJM), Democratic Republic of the Congo. The aircraft landed on runway 17 but failed to stop on the remaining runway. It continued off the runway and impacted several houses, killing at least eight persons on the ground. Houses are located 300 m past the end of the paved surface of runway 17, on the extended runway centreline. The accident happened after a period of heavy rainfall. On August 19, 2015, a Korongo Airlines Boeing 737-300 sustained serious damage when loose runway tarmac slabs hit the stabilizers during takeoff from Mbuji-Mayi. Congo Airways suspended all of its flights to Mbuji-Mayi as of on December 8 until further notice due to the degradation of the airport’s runway. The Congolese authorities, the RVA (R‚gie des voies a‚riennes), inspected the runway on December 20 and concluded it was indeed old but considered it still “practicable”. The airport’s runway 17/35 is 2000 m (6558 ft) long.