GOMA, DR Congo, July 24, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Two park wardens were killed Wednesday when a two-seater surveillance plane crashed in Democratic Republic of Congo's Virunga National Park, authorities said.

The plane was on a "surveillance support flight and crashed this afternoon in the Ishango area", the park's spokesman Bienvenu Bwende told AFP.

The Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation said the craft went down as the two men sought to "ensure the safety of (institute) agents operating in the park", adding the circumstances were being investigated.

Virunga National Park, Africa's oldest nature reserve, created in 1925, is renowned for both its lush landscapes and its wildlife, including mountain gorillas.

But it is also inside a conflict zone that has torn apart the east of the country over the past three decades.

Part of the area is controlled currently by the Rwandan-backed M23 armed group while the Ishango region near the Ugandan border is administered by the Kinshasa government.