A total of 21 passengers were on board the aircraft that went down in South Sudan, according to the country’s authorities
At least 20 people, including Chinese and Indian nationals, have been killed in a plane crash in South Sudan’s Unity State, authorities in the East African country reported on Wednesday.
The region’s information minister, Gatwech Bipal, said the passengers on the small aircraft were oil workers of the Greater Pioneer Operating Company (GPOC), a consortium that includes China National Petroleum Corporation and the Sudanese state-owned Nile Petroleum Corporation.
He said it had departed for the African nation’s capital, Juba, before it went down near the oil fields in Rubkona County shortly after takeoff.
“We are saddened to report this unfortunate incident involving a Light Air Service plane that tragically crashed just three minutes after takeoff from the Unity oil fields en route to Juba,” South Sudanese Petroleum Minister Puot Kang Chuol also told reporters.
He said 16 South Sudanese, two Chinese nationals, an Indian, and two Ugandan crew members were on the plane. The only survivor, a South Sudanese engineer, has been evacuated to Bentiu State Hospital, according to Chuol.
Air accidents occur frequently in Africa’s newest country, which has remained conflict-torn since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011.
Last August, a cargo plane reportedly caught fire in the South Sudanese state of Jonglei, injuring two crew members. At least five people were killed in 2021 when a cargo flight carrying fuel for the UN’s World Food Program crashed near Juba. A year earlier, an aircraft belonging to the South West Aviation company crashed after taking off from Juba International Airport, killing three South Sudanese and five Russians.
In September 2018, at least 20 people, including the Anglican Bishop of Yirol, Simon Adut Yuang, died after an L-410 Turbolet of the same airline crashed into Lake Yirol, reportedly due to bad weather.
In 2015, around 36 people were killed in a Soviet-made Antonov plane when it crashed along the banks of the Nile River, according to the landlocked nation’s authorities.
The incidents prompted South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit to ban aircraft older than 20 years from operating passenger flights in April 2019.
In a statement late on Wednesday, President Kiir said he had ordered the Ministry of Transport and relevant authorities to conduct a “thorough and swift investigation” to determine the cause of the latest crash. He called the incident “heartbreaking,” adding that engineers and technical staff were among the victims.
“This tragedy deeply affects not only the families of the deceased but also the communities, our nation, and the entire oil industry,” the leader stated.
