Plane Crashes After Takeoff From Juba, South Sudan

While rescue workers said 36 people had been killed in the crash, a Reuters witness saw 41 bodies.

The plane, a Russian-made Antonov AN-12BK built in 1971, came down just 800 metres after leaving the runway of Juba worldwide Airport in the South Sudanese capital.

Gatluak said officials don’t know how many people were on the plane because they do not have the passenger manifest.

The main fuselage of the plane ploughed into thick woodland, with debris scattered in a wide area around the riverbank, according to an AFP reporter at the site. “We are not the only ones on the ground; there are a lot of other servicemen especially from the Ministry of Health and from the fire brigade who are helping”, he added.

Cargo planes to remote parts of South Sudan often carry passengers as well as goods.

He told Radio Tamazuj from the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa that the one-day visit aims at determining final arrangements for implementation of the peace deal to resolve the crisis in South Sudan.

South Sudan’s Transport Minister, Kuong Danhier Gatluak, said two people were found alive, but one of them later died.

The plane crashed onto a small island in the White Nile River, close to Juba airport.

The aircraft was owned by Allied Service Ltd., a Juba-based logistics company, said Brig.

An unnamed source at the Russian aviation agency said the plane appeared to have been overloaded.

He said a crew member and a child on board survived the aviation mishap.

Mr Ateny said five of the six crew members were Armenian, while the sixth member was Russian.

South Sudan has been engulfed by conflict since December 2013, when a power struggle in the ruling party led to fighting within the presidential guard and the fracturing of the army.

In Egypt, investigators are still sifting through clues left from Saturday’s crash of Metrojet Flight 9268, which was heading from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg, Russian Federation when it went down, killing the 224 passengers on board.