South Sudan plane crash: Dozens killed near

Juba airport
A cargo plane has crashed on take-off near the international airport in South Sudan's capital Juba, killing at least 36
people.

The plane came down on the east bank of the White Nile River

5 November 2015
A cargo plane has crashed on take-off near the international airport in South Sudan's
capital Juba, killing at least 36 people.
Two people were pulled from the wreckage alive but one of them later died, leaving a
young girl as the only survivor, the Red Cross said.
The Antonov An-12 plane was heading to Paloch, Upper Nile State, and crashed 800m
(half a mile) from the runway.
In a statement, Ukraine-based Antonov said the plane had not been airworthy.
It said the plane, which was built in 1971, "was is no state to fly because it failed to
undergo timely technical servicing... that should have included work on extending its
resources and exploitation timeframe", AFP news agency reported.
South Sudan authorities warned that the death toll could rise as the debris was
cleared.
The plane crashed into a farming community on an island on the White Nile River but

so far all the victims recovered were from the aircraft, the Red Cross said.
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Presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny said all of the plane's passengers were from
South Sudan.
He said five of the six crew members were Armenian, while the sixth member was
Russian. Armenia's foreign ministry has confirmed that five of its nationals were killed.
The head of the Civil Aviation at Juba airport said emergency officials had secured the
site of the crash and were "in the stage of recovering bodies and black box [flight
recorder]".

The crash left a tail fin and lumps of fuselage strewn in the vegetation close to the
water
While the cause of the crash is still unclear, the presidential spokesman told a news
conference that it might have been down to engine failure.
Witnesses said bodies, debris and cargo were strewn over a wide area along the river
bank.
'Landed near my door'
A man who saw the plane come down said he thought it might crash into a market
area, but the pilot seemed to divert at the last minute.
A local farmer described the moment the plane started to go down, telling AFP: "The
sound was so loud... the plane started descending and landed near my door.
"One of the tyres broke off and ran into the house - but thank God it did not injure
anyone."

Cargo planes flying to remote parts of South Sudan often carry passengers too.
The plane's first flight was in 1971, the Aviation Safety Network reported. It was being
operated by Allied Services Limited, a logistics company based in South Sudan, at the
time of the crash.
However, the plane belonged to the Tajik company Asia Airways, Tajikistan's Transport
Ministry told the Ozodagon news agency.

Officials are investigating the wreckage

A photo of the An-12 plane posted on Facebook by Allied Services Limited in October shows its registration
number EY-406, which was also visible on the wreck