March 20 (UPI) — A plane with 45 people believed to be aboard crashed Monday afternoon at the airport in Wau, South Sudan, officials said.
The South Supreme Airlines plane was traveling from Juba, the capital, and crashed on landing. Thick clouds of smoke billowed from the aircraft, and although witnesses said a number of passengers were killed, there were conflicting reports of casualties. A Juba radio station said at least nine people were pulled from the plane alive.
“Right now we have the ambulance which has just come out from the airport and we have received 14 patients being rushed to hospital in stable condition,” state information minister Bona Gaudensio told the Khaleej Times.
It was unclear if the remaining passengers died in the crash.
“The weather is not good. Visibility was not good up to now and (the plane) was landing from the east to west then it just crashed (off) the runway. The pilot I think was not seeing the runway well,” said Wau airport engineer Paul Charles, the Khaleej Times reported.
