By Our Correspondent,
JUBA South Sudan
Five people were killed on Tuesday when a cargo plane carrying fuel for the UN's World Food Programme crashed near South Sudan's capital Juba, airport officials said.
The
aircraft -- a Soviet-era Antonov An-26 transport plane -- crashed shortly after
taking off from Juba's international airport, killing everyone onboard.
"One
is a South Sudanese, two are Sudanese and two are Ukrainians," David
Subek, head of the South Sudan Civil Aviation Authority, told AFP.
The
cargo plane belonging to a local operator was reportedly carrying 28 barrels of
fuel for the WFP to Maban, a district housing more than 100,000 refugees.
According
to the airport's director general Kur Kuol, it hit a mango tree and caught
fire.
"The
people on board were burnt. They are in bad shape," said Kuol.
South
Sudan Red Cross said emergency workers had collected five bodies that were
"burned beyond recognition".
South
Sudan, a young nation that achieved independence in 2011 and has been in the
throes of a chronic economic and political crisis, lacks a reliable transport
infrastructure, with plane crashes often blamed on overloading and poor
weather.
President
Salva Kiir on March 3 ordered the suspension of an airline after one of its
planes crashed in the country's east, killing all 10 people aboard including
the two pilots.
The
aircraft belonging to South Sudan Supreme Airlines crashed in Jonglei state
shortly after taking off from Pieri.
Another plane owned by local company South West Aviation crashed in August last year killing four passengers and three crew.
The
cargo plane had been carrying cash to the Wau region in the country's northwest
for Juba-based Opportunity Bank.
Overloading
of planes is common in South Sudan, and was believed to have contributed to the
2015 crash of an Antonov plane in Juba that left 36 people dead.
In
2017, 37 people had a miraculous escape after their plane hit a fire truck on a
runway in Wau before bursting into flames.
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