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Airplane crash in South Sudan kills 20 oil workers

A small aircraft carrying oil employees in South Sudan's Unity State crashed on launch from its oilfield airport on Wednesday, killing 20 individuals, the region's information minister stated.

The airplane had left for the capital Juba when it went down, Gatwech Bipal said. The guests were oil employees of the Greater Leader Operating Business (GPOC), a consortium that includes China National Petroleum Corporation and state-owned Nile Petroleum Corporation, he said.

Amongst the dead were 2 Chinese nationals and one Indian, he added.

President Salva Kiir said engineers and technical personnel were among the dead, and promised a thorough and quick examination to identify the reason for the crash.

Bipal gave say goodbye to information on the situations. Media reports had actually at first put the death toll at 18 however Bipal told Reuters two survivors had later died. One person survived.

Several air crashes have actually taken place in war-torn South Sudan over the last few years. In September 2018, at least 19 individuals died when a little aircraft carrying guests from Juba to the city of Yirol crashed.

In 2015, dozens of people were eliminated when a Russian-built freight airplane with passengers on board crashed after removing from Juba airport.

(source: Reuters)