Many Feared Dead in South Sudan Plane Crash

A small plane crashed into a lake in the centre of South Sudan on Sunday, killing at least two people with many others feared dead, according to a regional official and the UN radio station.

“We have not yet established full details of the airline but what we know it is a 19-seater plane coming from Juba to Yirol this morning,” said regional information minister for the Eastern Lakes state Taban Abel Aguek.

“When it arrived the weather was so foggy and when it tried to land it crashed into Lake Yirol adjacent to Yirol town. Its so sad. Many people on board are feared dead. We are still establishing details,” he said.

He said the Anglican Bishop of Yirol, Simon Adut, was confirmed among the dead.

The United Nations radio station Radio Miraya said there “about 20 people on board” and that there were only three survivors.

Radio Miraya also reported the bishop dead, as well as an Italian doctor.

It also posted a picture on its Twitter account of the twisted wreckage of the plane submerged in water.

Officials could not immediately say exactly how many passengers and crew there were.

In 2015, 36 people were killed when a Soviet-era Antonov plane crashed just after take-off from Juba.

In 2017, 37 people had a miraculous escape after their plane hit a fire truck on a runway in northwestern Wau before bursting into flames.

South Sudan was plunged into civil war in December 2013, when President Salva Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar of planning a coup, leaving tens of thousands dead and millions displaced.