At least 10 people die in South Sudan jet crash

JUBA: At least ten people, including the two pilots, died when a plane crashed at an airstrip in South Sudan’s Jonglei state, the region’s governor and the airline said.

The airline said all aboard the commercial plane died late aternoon on Tuesday when it took off from the airstrip at Pieri on a return flight to Juba.

It could not give a specific death toll, saying up to 24 people could have been on the flight.

“It was with great shock and horror to receive the news of the plane crash ( HK-4274) of South Sudan Supreme Airline,” Governor Denay Jock Chagor said in a statement sent to AFP on Wednesday.

“Ten people including the two pilots lost their lives,” he added.

Ayii Duang Ayii, director of South Supreme Airlines, told on Wednesday that it was “not clear how many people” were on board the flight.

“But the first information communicated to us was that there were 11 people on board,” the director said.

“We are still working to send a team... to establish for us the facts. All on board died,” he said.

“The plane let to Pieri well, landed well and when it was taking off back to Juba that was when it crashed,” Ayii Duang Ayii added.

Egypt and Sudan proposed that current African Union chair Democratic Republic of Congo should lead efforts to restart talks over Ethiopia’s Blue Nile mega-dam, a foreign ministry statement said.

The move comes ater DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi started his one-year term as AU chair last month, replacing South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, vowing to seek “innovative solutions” to resolve the dispute.

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), set to be Africa’s largest hydroelectric project, has been a source of tension in the Nile basin ever since Ethiopia broke ground on it nearly a decade ago.

The 55-member AU has been involved in multiple rounds of talks in the past, but litle progress has been made. Foreign ministers Sameh Shoukry and his Sudanese counterpart Mariam Al Sadiq Al Mahdi said they backed the proposal “to enhance the negotiation structure,” the statement said.

Kinshasha will lead a quartet with the United Nations, the European Union and the United States, it added.

Egyptian president Abdel Fatah Al Sisi met with Al Mahdi on Tuesday, where they stressed the dam is a “vital issue” for both nations.

The Nile, the world’s longest river, is a lifeline supplying both water and electricity to the 10 countries it traverses.