Juba, South Sudan:
An airplane has crashed in northern South Sudan, killing at least 20 people, leaving only a confirmed survivor, said the Minister of Information of the State of Unity State. The plane fell near the oil fields in Unity State around 10:30 am local time (0830 GMT) shortly after taking off for the capital’s capital.
“The plane crashed 500 meters from the airport,” Gatwech Bipal told AFP by phone.
“21 people were on board. As now, there is only one survivor.”
The survivor, a South South engineer who works in the oil field, has been urgently taken to the state hospital Bentiu, said the minister.
He said that the Ukrainian passenger plane, rented by the Pioneer Operating Company (GPOC) and operated by Light Air Services Aviation Company, was in a routine mission to the area.
“The state government is in a deep sadness for this accident,” he added, saying that there would be an investigation.
“Although most people predicted that this could be a mechanical collision,” he added, without giving more details.
All passengers are employees of GPOC: 16 Southnese of the South, two Chinese and 1 Indian citizens, according to the Manifesto seen by AFP, confirmed by local authorities.
The images shared on social networks showed the wrinkled plane upside down in a field, the debris extended by the area.
In some of the images, which AFP has not been able to verify independently, you can see a body spilling from shattered fuselage.
South Sudan separated from his neighbor of the North in 2011 and since then has faced a severe economic and political instability.
The young nation lacks a reliable transport infrastructure and aerial accidents are common, accidents are frequently blamed for overload or bad weather.
In 2021, five people were killed after a cargo plane that transported fuel for the UN World Food Program crashed near Juba.
Aircraft overload is common in South Sudan, and it was believed that it contributed to the 2015 accident of an Antonov plane in Juba that killed 36 people.
In 2017, 37 people had a miraculous escape after their plane hit a fire truck on a track in Wau before exploding on fire.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a feed union).
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