At Least 41 Fatally Injured, Including Several On The Ground

A Russian-built Antonov 12B cargo plane went down Wednesday after taking off from Juba International Airport in South Sudan, resulting in the fatal injury of at least 41 people aboard the airplane and on the ground. Official say that three people who had been on board the plane survived the accident.

Sudanese officials said that the aircraft belonged to Allied Services Ltd., ad freight and logistics firm. Reuters reports that Civil Aviation Authority chief executive Stephen Warikozi said the plane was en route to Paloch in northern South Sudan.

South Sudan presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny told Reuters there were 18 people on board the airplane, six of them crew. One of the survivors was a South Sudanese child.

The plane went down on the bank of the White Nile River shortly after takeoff. Warikozi said that officials were still in the process of recovering the remains of those fatally injured, as well as the data recorders from the aircraft. He said that the crew was comprised of five Armenians and one Russian. All of the passengers on the plane were South Sudanese, he said.

(Image from file)

FMI: http://scaa-ais.sd/en