Five injured in South Sudan plane crash

At least five persons reportedly sustained serious injuries after a cargo plane crashed in South Sudan on Tuesday.

The plane was landing at the Agok Airstrip in the disputed Abyei Administrative Area between the border of Sudan and South Sudan when it suddenly came down.

The Chief Administrator of the Abyei Administrative Area, Kuol Diem Kuol, said in a statement the Antonov 26 aircraft owned by South Sudan Ministry of Defense was delivering examination papers from the capital, Juba, when it crashed after landing on the runway.

Kuol said the plane had already distributed the examination materials in Bentiu town of Unity State, and was to deliver more examination materials to Rumbek town of Lakes State when the crash occurred.

READ ALSO: UN suspends operations in South Sudan after killing of two aid workers

South Sudan’s Minister for General Education and Instruction, Awut Deng Acuil, also confirmed the incident, adding that the examination papers are now in police custody.

The accident was the second plane crash in three months in the troubled country after another cargo plane crashed in November 2021, killing five people on board.

19 people were killed when a small aircraft carrying passengers from Juba to Yirol crashed in 2018, while 10 died after a cargo plane crashed in the north-eastern state of Jonglei in March 2020.

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