Khartoum: At least 20 people were killed in an airplane accident in the northern South Sudan region, officials confirmed.
The accident occurred near the oil fields in Unity State around 10:30 am, local time (8:30 am GMT) Wednesday, shortly after the plane took off for the capital, Juba.
The plane, which transported 21 people, crashed just 500 meters from the airport. Unity State Minister Gatwech Bipal, both told AFP that one person had survived the incident.
The victims included 16 Sudanese southern nationals, two Chinese nationals and an Indian, all employees of the Grand Pioneer Operating Company (GPOC).
The plane would have been put on a routine mission in the region at the time of the accident. The United Nations Radio Miraya confirmed that the pilot and the co -pilot were one of the people killed.
The images shared on social networks represented the plane upside down in a field with debris dispersed through the surroundings.
The overload of planes was a common problem in South Sudan, which would have contributed to a previous fatal accident in Juba in 2015, when an Antonov plane broke down, killing 36 people.
