Four die as plane crashes in Sudan

A Russian cargo plane has crashed in war-ravaged southern Sudan, killing all four people onboard, Russian media reported today.

Russia’s NTV television said all four crewmen were Russian citizens. But Russia’s ITAR-Tass news agency said there had been no independent confirmation of the victims’ identities, noting that they could be citizens of any of the Russian-speaking former Soviet republics.

The Russian An-12 plane, based in Khartoum, had taken off from an airport in the Southern Kordofan region yesterday evening and was headed to Juba in southern Sudan when radio contact was lost, ITAR-Tass said.

Citing the Sudanese Media-Centre, ITAR-Tass reported the plane was owned by the private aviation company Sariya.

Numerous pilots from Russia, Ukraine and other ex-Soviet republics work in Africa.