A commercial plane made a crash landing in poor weather at an airport in South Sudan on Monday, causing several injuries — but no deaths.
“It is miraculous completely,” Ateny Wek Ateny, the South Sudanese presidential spokesperson. “There are only minor injuries. There was no single death.”
The incident took place at the airport in Wau.
Both Wal Achieng, an official at South Supreme Airlines in Wau, and Ateny said 43 people were on board. Achieng said of those, 40 were adults and three were children.
Achieng said 25 people were taken to a hospital and 18 are safe and have gone back to their homes.
“The weather was not good,” Achieng said, citing very cloudy conditions.
“That made the plane not to see the runway,” Achieng said.
Heading from Juba
The plane was headed from the capital, Juba, to Wau. Ateny said the plane overshot the runway when it encountered fog around 2 p.m. local time and caught fire when it hit the ground.
Achieng said the fire initially led many people to think there would be no survivors.
South Sudan, which gained its independence from Sudan in 2001, has endured war political instability and famine.
It is a landlocked country in east-central Africa, bordering Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic.
More than 12 million people live in South Sudan. It is populated by many ethnic groups, including the Dinka and Nuer, and the dominant faiths are Christian and animist.