Region | Sudan
Dozens killed as plane explodes at Khartoum airport
A Sudanese airliner carrying 217 people burst into flames after landing at Khartoum airport on Tuesday, killing at least 29, officials said on Wednesday.
- Agencies
- Published: 23:05 June 10, 2008
- At least 33 people have died after a Sudanese plane carrying 217 people burst into flames.
- Image Credit: AP
Khartoum: A Sudanese airliner carrying 217 people burst into flames after landing at Khartoum airport on Tuesday, killing at least 29 people, officials said on Wednesday.
Twenty-eight bodies had been taken to the local mortuary by 3am, doctors and officials said. 171 people were able to escape, officials said.
Fourteen people were still unaccounted for after Tuesday night's fire.
Investigations to determine the cause of the crash were under way.
An earlier report said witnesses saw rescue workers retrieving five more bodies from the charred wreckage, putting the toll at 33.
The Civil Aviation Authority said 113 survivors had been accounted for, but many others left without informing them. The plane's emergency chutes enabled the survivors to escape.
The nationalities of the passengers were not immediately released, though it is believed that the plane was carrying mostly Sudanese.
Sudanese television showed footage of the aircraft ablaze in the darkness while emergency workers played water hoses on the burning fuselage. The airliner, identified by Sudanese television as an Airbus, was carrying 203 passengers and 14 crew, it said.
"The plane was coming from Amman and Syria... it landed safely at Khartoum airport and they talked to the control tower which told them where to taxi. At this moment an explosion happened," airport director Yousuf Ibrahim told Sudanese television.
"Whether it is a technical reason, we don't know yet.
He said a large number of passengers had survived.
"We don't know yet if there are still passengers inside who have died."
At least one bus had ferried passengers away from the plane, an airport engineer told reporters, and medical sources said some people were taken to hospitals in Khartoum.
The emergency escape chutes could be seen deployed at the side of the aircraft. Ambulances arrived on the scene. The blaze appeared to be consuming the fuselage and cockpit area.
At the time of the landing a dust storm in the Sudanese capital was restricting visibility, residents said.
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