(Reuters) A Russian-built cargo plane with passengers on board crashed on Wednesday after taking off from the airport in South Sudan’s capital, killing dozens of people, witnesses said.
An official said three people on board survived.
The precise death toll was not immediately clear after the Antonov-12 B plane turbo prop plane crashed soon after take off, leaving chunks of wreckage, bodies and cargo strewn along a bank of the White Nile River.
The Civil Aviation Authority said the number of dead was still being counted.
A Reuters witness saw 41 bodies, some of which were covered by cloth. A police officer, who did not give his name because he was not authorized to speak to the media, also put the death toll at 41. Another witness counted at least 32 killed.
Presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny told Reuters the plane was carrying 18 people, including the six foreign crew, according to official documents. He said 15 of them died and three South Sudanese nationals survived, including a child.