Plane crashes in South Sudan, killing 20, official says

NAIROBI: A plane carrying oil workers in Unity State of South Sudan crashed on Wednesday, killing 20 people, an official said.

The small aircraft crashed at the Unity oilfield airport on Wednesday morning as it was heading to the capital Juba, Gatwech Bipal, Unity State’s information minister, 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 nationals and one Indian.

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