World

Plane crash in South Sudan kills 20, official says

By AAP Newswire

Jan 30, 2025

A Southern Sudan flag — Twenty people have died in a plane crash in South Sudan's Unity oilfield airport. -AP

A small aircraft carrying oil workers in South Sudan's Unity State has crashed, killing 20 people, an official says.

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The plane crashed at the Unity oilfield airport on Wednesday morning as it was heading to the capital Juba, Unity State's information minister Gatwech Bipal said.

Bipal said the passengers were oil workers of the Greater Pioneer Operating Company (GPOC) a consortium that includes China National Petroleum Corporation and state-owned Nile Petroleum Corporation.

He said among the dead were two Chinese citizens and one Indian.

Bipal gave no more details on the circumstances that led to the crash.

Media reports had initially put the death toll at 18 but Bipal told Reuters two survivors had later died.

One person survived.

Several air crashes have occurred in war-torn South Sudan in recent years.

In September 2018, at least 19 people died when a small aircraft carrying passengers from the capital Juba to the city of Yirol crashed.

In 2015, dozens of people were killed when a Russian-built cargo plane with passengers on board crashed after taking off from the airport in the capital Juba.

By AAP Newswire

Australian Associated Press