No fewer than 41 persons died as a cargo plane crashed on the banks of the White Nile River in South Sudan’s capital, Juba, shortly after it took off from the airport on Wednesday, November 4, 2015.
A presidential spokesman, Ateny Wek Ateny, told Reuters that a crew member and a child passenger survived the crash.
A tail fin and lumps of fuselage were seen strewn across the vegetation close to the water after the crash of the Russian built cargo plane, Guardian UK reports.
The UN-backed radio station Radio Miraya reported: “Cargo plane heading to Paloch in Upper Nile State crashed just 800 metres from Juba International airport runway.”
“The plane may have had about 20 people on board, including crew and probably 10 to 15 passengers, Ateny said, but added: “We need to confirm how many people were on board.”
Juba in South Sudan
Ateny added that an unknown number of people were killed on the ground as the plane crashed near a place where some fishermen were working.
“We don’t know the number of people that were killed on the ground,” he said.
A police officer, who spoke under the condition of anonymity said that at least 41 people died from the crash while another eye-witness corroborated the claim by adding that he saw 41 bodies at the scene.
