South Sudan plane crash leaves 20 dead

KABUL (Pajhwok): An aircraft carrying oil workers in south Sudan’s Unity State has crashed, killing 20 people, a media report said on Thursday.

En route to the capital Juba, the ill-fated plane crashed at the Unity oilfield airport on Wednesday, CNN quoted the state information minister as saying.

Gatwech Bipal said the passengers were oil workers of the Greater Pioneer Operating Company (GPOC) -- a consortium that includes China National Petroleum Corporation and state-owned Nile Petroleum Corporation.

He said among the dead were two Chinese nationals and one Indian. Bipal gave no more details on the circumstances that led to the crash.

Media reports had initially put the death toll at 18 but Bipal told Reuters two survivors had later died. One person survived.

sa/mud