Plane crash in South Sudan kills 20

A plane has crashed in the north of South Sudan killing at least 20 people, leaving only one confirmed survivor, Unity State's minister for information said Wednesday.

The aircraft came down near the oil fields in Unity State at around 10:30 am local time (0830 GMT) shortly after taking off for the capital Juba.

"The plane crashed 500 metres away from the airport," Gatwech Bipal Both told AFP by phone.

"21 people were on board. As for now, there's only one survivor."

The survivor, a South Sudanese engineer working at the oil field, has been rushed to Bentiu State hospital, the minister said.

He said the Ukrainian Passenger aircraft, chartered by the Greater Pioneer Operating Company (GPOC) and operated by Light Air Services Aviation Company, was on a routine mission to the area.

"The state government is in a deep sorrow by this accident", he added, saying there would be an investigation.

"Although most people predicted that this might be a mechanical collision," he added, without giving more details.

All of the passengers are employees of GPOC: 16 South Sudanese, two Chinese nationals and 1 Indian, according to the manifest seen by AFP, confirmed by local authorities.

Pictures shared on social media showed the crumpled aircraft upside down in a field, debris spread across the area.

In some of the images -- which AFP has not been able to independently verify -- a body could be seen spilling from the wrecked fuselage.

South Sudan broke away from its northern neighbour in 2011 and has faced severe economic and political instability ever since.

The young nation lacks a reliable transport infrastructure and air accidents are common, the crashes frequently blamed on overloading or poor weather.

In 2021 five people were killed after a cargo plane carrying fuel for the UN's World Food Programme crashed near Juba.

Overloading of planes is common in South Sudan, and was believed to have contributed to the 2015 crash of an Antonov plane in Juba that killed 36 people.

In 2017, 37 people had a miraculous escape after their plane hit a fire truck on a runway in Wau before bursting into flames.