On 11 November 1961, two Italian Air Force C-119 "Flying Boxcar" transport aircraft from the 46ª Aerobrigata, based at Pisa Airfield, landed near Kindu Port-Émpain in Congo-Léopoldville (present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo) while delivering Ferret Scout Cars to a United Nations garrison. The thirteen Italian airmen aboard were part of the United Nations Operation in the Congo (ONUC), deployed to assist during the Congo Crisis, a period of political fragmentation following Belgian decolonization that saw rival factions led by Joseph Kasa-Vubu, Antoine Gizenga, and Moïse Tshombe contest control of the country.
The airmen were initially taken to a UN dining hall. Rumors that Tshombe's Katangan forces were planning an airdrop had heightened tensions among ANC troops stationed in Kindu as a staging post. At around 1600 hours, ANC personnel entered the dining hall and accused the Italians of being Tshombe spies. Despite initial attempts by a UN officer, Maj. Duad, and ANC Col. Pakassa to defuse the situation, the confrontation escalated into violence. One airman, Medic Tenente Remotti, was shot while attempting to escape; the remaining twelve were arrested and taken to a local prison, where they were subsequently shot and killed. Witnesses reported that the bodies were then mutilated, with parts distributed among onlookers, boiled, and reportedly eaten — an account supported by photographs taken by a witness. The remains were buried the following morning at Tokolote cemetery, later exhumed in 1962 and returned to Italy for reburial.
In the aftermath, Congolese General Victor Lundula and UN officers investigated the killings, but Col. Pakassa refused to cooperate and denied responsibility. The incident triggered political tension between the UN and pro-Gizenga factions in the Congolese government; Prime Minister Cyrille Adoula publicly denounced UN plans to disarm the implicated troops. A joint Congolese-UN commission later found two soldiers found in possession of human remains, along with Col. Pakassa and two other ANC members, to be "definitively guilty of involvement in the massacre." However, according to the source, no court trial ever took place, and no one was formally punished for the killings.
In 1994, the thirteen airmen were posthumously awarded Italy's Gold Medal of Military Valor. Their families received compensation in 2007. Memorials to the victims stand at Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport in Rome and in Pisa. The case remains formally without judicial resolution despite the commission's findings.
Credit: Nicolaes Visscher IIPublic domainSourceSOLVEDListen
