At least 46 people including women and children were killed in a military plane crash in the city of Omdurman, Sudan, reports AP.
Officials confirmed the deaths from the plane crash that took place on Tuesday to the media on Wednesday.
According to the media report, this is one of the deadliest plane crash in the northeastern African nation in the past two decades.
The Antonov aircraft crashed over a populated district in Omdurman, also injuring at least 10 people, according to the government-run Khartoum Media Office. An initial death toll of 19 was provided by the health ministry.
The military said in a statement that the plane crashed while taking off from the Wadi Sayidna air base north of Omdurman, the sister city of the capital, Khartoum.
The crash also damaged a number of houses in the Karrari district of Omdurman, the media office said.
The military earlier said that armed forces personnel and civilians were killed in the crash, but didn’t provide figures. It didn’t say what caused the crash.
The health ministry said some bodies were transferred to the Nau hospital in Omdurman.
Among the dead were senior military officers, including Maj. Gen. Bahr Ahmed Bahr and Lt. Col. Awad Ayoub, and the aircraft crew, according to a military official.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter, said the dead include women and children, among them five siblings.
Local media reported that the aircraft was on the way to the Red Sea city of Port Sudan, the seat of the military-backed government, when it crashed over the Al-Thawra neighborhood in the Karrari district. Residents reported loud explosions from the crash, which sent thick clouds of smoke and dust over Omdurman.
Aircraft crashes are common in Sudan, which has a poor aviation safety record. In 2020, at least 16 people were killed when a military plane, a Russian Antonov An-12, crashed in the western region of Darfur.
In 2003, a civilian Sudan Airways plane crashed into a hillside while trying to make an emergency landing, killing 116 people, including eight foreigners. Only a boy survived the crash.
Bd-Pratidin English/ AM
